Hunter and Little Red Riding Hood (English)
by YellowMoonFlower
Summary: Gray: Hunter is not moved by a sense of humanity, but money. / Oracle: Do you intend to end this world, Harvest Goddess? / Dirk: That girl, Claire could not even use magic ... Why she has to bear such responsibility? / Gray: Warm? *holding Claire's hand* It means you are exist and alive here. (Warning: Alternative Universe, HM worlds mixed together!)
1. The Hunter

Chapter 1: -The Hunter-

As a hunter who chased criminals for the sake of the money prize, Gray always moved alone. He never stayed in the same place or with the same person for a very long time. But this time was different. He had been with her, the red riding hood, for weeks. (Beware: Mixed characters. You might even find some RF's chars here :D)

 **DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 1 ~**

 **"The Hunter"**

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A cold night in the mid-autumn. The temperature on Mother's Hill, Mineral Town, currently reached 10 degrees Celsius. Most of the trees had shed its leaves, preparing for upcoming winter. It was not that late, yet streets in this small town had lost its living vibe. If we went further to the east, on the slopes of Mother's Hill, we'd find a man with short orange hair squatted on the tree branch. He had been there since an hour ago, observing the movement inside an old, abandoned cottage.

He looked at his watch for nth time. It was 10 pm. As he expected, he couldn't hear any sound from that cottage. He jumped down 2 meters away, and ran with feather-step to the cottage's door. Leaning his ear on the door, he ensured that there were no further movements from whomever inside. Once convinced, he drew his short sword and damaged the door knob with a single move. Inside the cottage he found what he was looking for: a boy with black hair, tied on the pole, with a cloth to keep the boy's mouth silent. The man put his index finger in front of his mouth, hinted the child to remain calm. After the boy gave a nod, he untied the boy's hands and mouth. There were five big man fell asleep with wine bottles scattered around them. He took the child passed across them, and exited that stinky place.

Once outside, he bent his head and whispered to the boy who was still shaking, "Wait here. Close your ears. Close your eyes. Got it?"

The cold eyes he showed made the boy could only reply with a small nod. But when he was about to enter, a small hand hold the tip of his jacket. "Tha-Thank you... for saving me... I ... I am Stu. Uncle ..?"

The man narrowed his blue eyes, seemed considering whether it was necessary to mention his name to this little guy.

"Gray," he said shortly, and immediately stepped into the cottage. Stu covered his ears just like the man told him to. But still, he could hear noises from the cottage. He heard the sound of glass breaking, and a shock scream.

"Who are you? Hey, where's the boy ?!"

And some "Bang! Bang!" immediately ended the short noises. Then, a long silence pause took place. Stu could not resist peeking into the cottage. At the pole where Stu was tied before, he found two large men were tied, unconscious. Three others were tied and crawled on wood floor. Stu's mouth dropped in disbelief. It was obvious that Gray had smaller body than those five men, but he finished everything with just a few "Bang!".

"How did you do it?" Stu asked in his amazed. Gray, once again, seemed to consider whether it was necessary to explain it to Stu. "Come on ... tell me, uncle!" The boy insisted.

Gray sighed, felt annoyed. He never liked by children, and he did not want to be involved with them. To make it quick, Gray lifted him and put the boy on his left shoulder. He didn't bother with Stu's further complaints and struggles. He walked quietly through the woods. When he felt like couldn't handle Stu's constant whining any longer, he eventually put Stu on the lane.

"Do you want to know?" Gray asked. Stu answered it with a strong nod. "I just put sleeping pills in their wine, in the kitchen. And they fell asleep within 1 hour. About how I beat them, there's only one answer," Stu held his breath, waiting for the answer, "The strength and speed."

Stu couldn't hide his disappoint expression. "Is that all?"

"That's all."

"You didn't use magic or something?"

"I do not believe in magic."

"You know, I knew a big sis who can use magic, though she asked me to keep it secret," said Stu.

"You mean magic trick?" said Gray.

"No, it's a real magic! You know, she could make the withered tree fresher just by touching it!" Stu exclaimed. Gray frowned. This kid really was imaginative.

"Oh, yeah." Gray only gave a small respond. He walked ahead Stu, making the boy was running at a loss because he scared to be left behind. Gray brought Stu to Doug's Inn. Contrary of the quiet village, inside the Doug's Inn all citizens gathered. They seemed relieved to see Stu entered the Inn, accompanied by Gray. A girl dressed in light blue dress immediately rushed and hugged Stu.

"Stuu! You're safe! Thank God ..." she cried. Stu replied her hug.

"Big sis, this uncle helped me."

The big sister smiled, and then turned her gaze on Gray. She walked closer to him, took out a small pouch from her pocket and handed it to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Hunter," she said. Gray received the bag and opened it slightly to see its contents. He got 1000 Gold as their agreement.

"Thanks again," said Gray, putting the pouch into his inner jacket pocket. Stu saw their transaction, and began to understand that the uncle who had helped him was a hunter. Hunter, that was how people referred to someone who gained money by hunting criminals or lending their special skills.

Once the villagers calmed down, they left Inn and return to their own houses. But Stu insisted to remain there and clung to Gray. Apparently there was a strong attachment and admiration toward Gray built in his heart. Stu's sister finally gave up after Doug persuaded her to let Stu stayed overnight.

"Just let him sleep here tonight. You rest and accompany your grandmother. It's a tough day for you," Doug said soothingly. And so, Stu slept at the inn, the same room with his hero. Gray did not express any objection or approval; perhaps because Doug gave him free lodging the night. Of course he had to share a room with Stu as condition.

"So, Uncle Gray is a hunter?" Stu asked with his shining eyes. He sat next to Gray who was doing his routine sword care. Gray simply replied with a small 'hm'.

"Your sword's small. Can you kill bad guys with that little thing?" Stu asked again. Gray stopped and changed his position so that he sat with leg-crossed, faced Stu.

"Hunters hunt criminals, not kill them," Gray said firmly. It made Stu's eyes sparkle with more admiration.

"You're great! Me too, I want to be a hunter when I grow up!" Stu exclaimed as he threw himself onto the bed. "Do you think I can do it?" he asked innocently. Gray finished his sword treatment, sheathed it and put it next to his pillow. He saw Stu who was lying next to him.

"You'd better not," said Gray.

"Why?"

Gray moved his sight from Stu to his empty palm. "The way of hunters is not the way of heroes. Hunters are not driven by a sense of humanity, but by money," He said. His blue eyes became even colder. Stu felt it, and sat on the bed and connect his hand with Gray's.

"I know that. I've heard there's a lot of hunter like that, from Zack. But you're different!" Stu said. "1000 Gold is a very small amount. You can ask for much more than that. And you avoid conflict as much as possible. I think normally a hunter would immediately kick and kill their opponent, but you didn't. You even told me to shut my ears so I didn't hear any violence. You're a nice person!"

Gray got quiet; somewhat stunned by the way Stu talked. It was far above the child's age. He ruffled little boy's hair, and pushed the boy's head back to make him lying back on the bed. "Rather than a hunter, you're suit better to be a politician," Gray said as he was lying next to the boy. Stu shifted his body again, facing Gray.

"Politicians? What is it?"

Gray clicked his tongue, thought that he supposed not to talk more to the child.

"Just sleep, boy!" Gray ordered him, annoyed. He turned his back to Stu, and immediately positioned himself to sleep, ignoring Stu's chatter and complaints thereafter.

-000-

Doug was surprised when he was about to prepare a breakfast menu in the morning. He found a piece of paper and a few gold coins on his counter.

" _The cost for yesterday dinner. Gray_."

Doug smiled reading the very short note. His inn had often visited by various types' hunters: barbarian, elegant types, psychopaths, etc... But there were also some hunters who like Gray. Talk less, cold, but gentle inside. This time, Gray might be heading to Forget-Me-Not Valley, given that yesterday he asked about that town.

After Ann went to the second floor along with Stu, Gray approached to Doug who was wiping glasses, preparing to close inn for the day.

 _"Doug, have you heard about a gipsy circus group?"_

 _Doug stopped his work for a moment, and looked at Gray's serious eyes._

 _"Hmm. I think yes. About two days ago there were customers who came from the Forget-Me-Not Valley. They said there is this circus stopping there for a couple of days. They are very great, and the women are hot," said Doug. "Are you interested?" Doug asked with the intention of teasing._

 _Instead of answering, Gray yawned. "Do you forget that I'm a hunter? Money is the only thing interested me," he said lightly, with a smile that looked more like a grimace. Doug chuckled._

 _"Can you smile more cutely?" asked Doug between his laughter._

 _"Are you kidding?"_

Doug smiled remembering their night before. Gray was the one who –despite of his stoic cold face, he made people want to be by his side.

"Have a good trip, Mr. Hunter."

-000-

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(To be continued…)

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A/N:

Am I crazy? English version? Ahaha. Well, I just want to express my idea in a wider range, and practice. I hope I didn't mess too much this time :(

If it's not too much, please tell me what do you think about this fanfic :D

A slightly different Mineral Town's setting. A Harvest Moon with different scope. Gray eventually will go to some other cities from other HM games, like Zephyr (Grand Bazaar), Forget-Me-Not Valley (Wonderful Life), and some residents of Konohana (Tale of Two Town) will take roles here. Forgive the author who mixed up the world of Harvest Moon and my own designed time line, hohoho. Claire does not appear here yet in this chapter.

I hope you enjoy this: DDD!


	2. The Red Riding Hood

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 2 ~**

 **"The Red Riding Hood"**

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The night had fallen. Here, in the nameless forest connected Mineral Town and Forget-Me-Not Valley, Gray was walking alone. People usually went to Forget-Me-Not Valley by boat, but because of bad weather and dangerous wave, Zack refused to dispatch ships until unspecified date. Gray couldn't wait any longer. If he passed through the land, even though he had to cross the forest, he could arrive within half a day. But there were not many people willing to pass this forest except for emergency situations. The reason was the forest infamous for its dangerous rumor. Not only wild animals that posed as a threat, but also the robbers operating in the forest had become a very serious case. Even international police couldn't handle them. Well, Gray didn't give it a damn. If he met the robbers, he could just fight and capture them. A big prize was waiting for him. Only if he could get out safely from this forest, of course.

After walked all day through the forest, Gray chose a tree limb that was big enough for him to stay overnight. He used to sleep anywhere with high vigilance. He also had trained himself to feel human presence nearby. Gray took off his bag and hung it on a branch nearby, then lay down on the branch, with his head resting on the tree trunk. The sky was completely dark but bright enough with so many stars spreading up there. He didn't expect the sky in this lonely and dangerous forest was so beautiful. Last night, when he saved Stu from the kidnappers, the sky was not this brilliant. When Stu came to his mind, he recalled about candies given by Stu back then. He never liked sweets, but he accepted it because he felt bad for Stu's sister who escorted him.

Gray was about to take the candies from his pocket, when he suddenly changed his move to take a small knife in his jacket pocket. He threw the knife into the bushes quite far away. His knife obviously not just landed into the bushes, because he could hear the rustling dry leaves afterwards. Something or someone was forced to move because of shocked to his knife. He immediately put his bag on his back, and took his sword on. He only had five small knifes, and he didn't want to wasted it by attacking some unknown enemies.

He was waiting for a hint, or any slightest sound. But after some time there were no sign of movement, he went down from the tree. He looked around carefully. As soon as he set foot on the ground, he could estimate the number of enemies that attacked him.

 _Two persons? Strange. Why I didn't notice them? Before lied down I've made sure there's no people within a radius of 100 meters. How did they find me?_

A loud caw interrupted Gray's mind. A raven. Flapping its wings, the sounds could be heard clearly in the quiet forest. The raven flew from a high branch, approximately five trees from where he stood up, heading into the bushes where he threw the knife earlier. From the bushes came out two men dressed in disarray. One of them was thin, walked with a raven perched on his left arm. The other had a big fat body. Such combination of classic duo. So, Gray's question earlier had been answered: the raven was a messenger which trained to oversee the traveler that went into the woods. In other words, their delicious prey.

"Hand over your money, if you still want to see tomorrow!" threated the fatso. He pulled out a long dagger, tried to intimidating Gray with fear.

"I do not bring any valuables with me. You choose the wrong target," Gray replied calmly. Those Words sparked the fatso's laughter.

"Haven't I told you? You can only live if you hand off your money. If there is no money, then we will take your life! Hahaha!" The fatso was bursting in laugh. The fatso then stepped forward and swung his dagger toward him. He avoided it easily. Yet for an instant, he felt a stung on the back of his neck. He immediately turned around and saw the thin man was holding a blowpipe on his mouth. Gray movement was forced to stop.

 _Ceh. They play dirty..._

His vision blurred and his legs felt weak. He found the thin man smiled terribly. And then finally everything was really dark for Gray.

-000-

Gray opened his eyes slowly, but his vision was still blurred. He smelled smokes mixed with dry grass and he also heard the sound of crackling log fire. The rest was silent. Gray tried to move his body, which was super difficult. His hand and feet tightly tied with a twine. If he was in a good shape, he could just break that stupid rope. But his body felt very weak right now. Well, he got a poison from the thin robber.

Gray changed his position, trying to observe his surroundings. The dirty earthen floor filled with hay. He was in a small room made from old woods as its walls and ceiling. He guessed that this was a former horse stable. From a small door made from pieces of thin tree branches, some faint fire's lights entered the room. It seemed the robbers lit a bonfire right in front of this place. When his eyes fell on the corner of the room, he noticed the presence of someone other than himself. A woman wearing a red hoody. He could see some of her long blond hair falling on her shoulders. She was asleep, leaning on the wooden wall. Just like Gray, her hands and feet were tied.

"Seems like it's not just me," Gray said to himself. He felt very stupid for being caught easily by a pair of forest robber. Gray was lying on his back, staring at the wooden ceiling full of cobwebs, thinking. There was only one way out, that little door. His sword was not with him, so it was impossible for him to cut the ropes binding his hands and feet. His best chance was only one, which was, once the robber moved him out of this damn cage. Judging from their "catch", it seemed that he and the blonde girl in the corner would be sold as slaves in the black market tomorrow. That was the best chance for him to sneak out. Even though he broke down the wall, he knew nothing about his whereabouts and he didn't want to take risks with his weak body condition. Feeling there was nothing that could be done, Gray decided to closed his eyes and back to his sleep.

-000-

Gray was awakened by a loud noise. The fatso kicked a wooden box next to him.

"Wake up you guys! Today we're going to take a stroll, hahaha!" said the fatso. He just came to said that and went back to meet his buddy outside.

Gray squirmed, stretched out his stiff muscles due to the tight bound and potion infected him. Not only stiff everywhere, Gray's body was extremely weak since last night. The blond girl seemed to be awake as well. Once their eyes met, the girl nodded her head awkwardly. Gray replied the nod. She seemed about two or three years younger than Gray.

Although this girl looked dirty, Gray could see that she was quite cute. Not beauty, but cute. Her blue eyes were as clear as glasses. She wore a unique clothe he never seen before. Well, he had explored almost the entire harvest moon until this day, but he had never seen her dress motif. Therefore he assumed that she came from a very distant place.

"Do you understand what I say?" Gray asked. The girl nodded, but seemed a little confused by his question.

"Ah, I just felt you were very different," said Gray. "Your clothes, I mean," he continued, trying to lift the confusion over her face. The girl seemed to understand, because she smiled after that.

"I came from a far, far inland," she said.

Gray only nodded slightly, obviously did not want to talk further about their identity.

"Will you help me? We can escape today, when they're taking us out," Gray said, made the girl's eyes widened.

"Of course! What can I do?" she asked enthusiastically. Gray flipped his position so that his back faced her, near to her tied arms.

"Loosen my tied. Just loosen it, don't untie it entirely. If we run away now, it's useless because we don't know the territory. When they brought us to the main road, we can escape," he explained. The girl then shifted her position closer to him, and tried to loosen the ties with her teeth. Gray knew exactly how difficult it was for her, because she stopped and hissed for several times –felling her aching teeth.

"Can't you use your hands?" Gray asked.

"I can't. They tied me so tight. I can't even move my fingers."

"You're right," he agreed. He also couldn't move his fingers at all. If he could, surely he would release the girl first. Long enough she was trying, and finally succeeded. He tried to move his fingers, made sure he was able to untie himself.

"Okay, this is enough. Thanks. Let me do yours, too," he whispered. The girl turned around so Gray could untie her with his fingers. When Gray touched the girl's hand, he almost jumped in surprise, because her hand was very cold. Not very surprising though. The air in the forest was very cold, and she might have been there longer than him.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Gray immediately moved away from the red hoody. From the door, the skinny robber came in. He walked to the red hoody and untied her feet.

"Hey, boy. You're able to get up?" asked the skinny. "You heal faster than my estimation. With the poison I gave, normally people would not be able to move for 2-3 days," he continued.

"Maybe I need to give you an extra dose to make my transaction goes smoothly later ... hey, Steve!"

Gray frowned. This was bad. If the skinny guy really gave him more medicine, he wouldn't be able to run. Although at this time his body was still in weak state, at least he was able to move. Seeing the unfortunate situation, Gray turned his head to the red hoody, signaled that they had to run away now. Whether the girl understand or not about his signal.

When the skinny one walked out the stable, Gray quickly released his arms and feet. He grabbed the red hoody's hand and ran out, rammed the skinny robber until that thin guy fell backward. Unfortunately, their escape route didn't go smoothly. The fatso immediately responded to the sound of his buddy's scream. As soon as he saw Gray, without hesitation he swung his long dagger. Gray avoided it and pushed the red hoody away from the fight.

"RUN!" exclaimed Gray to her. He knew his condition was very weak due to poison given by the robber. He was not sure that he could get him and the red hoody out of this mess if they're together. Seeing the red hoody still didn't budge an inch, he shouted back loudly. "HURRY UUUP!"

Shocked and frightened by Gray's shout, the girl seemed to have decided to leave the place. Having relieved his burden had reduce; he tried to control his breathing. He was really in a bad state. Currently it was difficult to stand upright for him, let alone to fight back. But he had to go to Forget-Me-Not Valley and meet someone, no matter what. He couldn't end up here.

-000-

(To be continued)


	3. Bon Voyage

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 3 ~**

 **"Bon Voyage"**

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Dawn arrived in the nameless forest located in the border of the Forget-Me-Not Valley. The dark sky was slowly filled with some red tinge. Gray was lying on his back, looking at the sky was constantly changing color. He had just opened his eyes. He tried to move his fingers, and realized that he was still alive after what he went through last night. He moved his eye balls to see the lower part of his body. His bloody shirt was torn across from the chest to his stomach. But aside from that big tore, his stomach was scratched from no wound. There he realized that what had happened last night was not a hallucination or illusion.

"Are you awake?"

He narrowed his eyes as the blond girl sat beside him, blocking sunlight which began to appear on the eastern horizon. She seemed overwhelmed when mountain winds played her long blond hair. In his eyes, she looked like an unknown silhouette, with a few strands of her blond hair reflecting the red light of sun.

Red? Ah, Gray remembered it clearly. What had happened last night, when he was on the verge of death.

 _Gray, in his poor condition, knocked out just by a few attack from the robbers._

 _"Actually I don't want to kill you. Your body is strong and you have good instincts. If you are willing, we might recruit you into our group," said the skinny robber. "But never mind. You even get the girl escape. Kill him, Steve."_

 _The fatso, Steve, drew his long dagger. He cut down Gray's stomach, who could barely stand. Gray immediately fell for nth times. In this quiet forest, where you even could barely hear the sound of bugs, his heavy breath could be heard very clearly._

 _"Kill him immediately, Steve!" the thin one commanded._

 _Steve laughed with his sharp teeth. "I don't want to. Don't you hear this guy voice? It must be very hurt. It's very hurt, so much, that he asks me to put an end to his life as soon as possible. I don't want to do what he wants."_

 _"You moron! What if he survives?"_

 _"There's no way, I'm telling you. Just let him feel the hell, at least 10 minutes longer and he'll die , hahaha. This is your sword! At least you want to die with her, right? Hahaha"_

 _... and they left him dying on the ground with his sword lying beside him. Gray could not even speak, only let out his heavy and white breath in the cold night. Blood kept flowing out of his stomach._

 _"Ah, will I ended up here for real?" he thought in despair._

 _As Gray ever heard, when someone was on the verge of death, the memories of the past will be flashed back before his/her eyes. It was exactly what happened to him right then. He saw faces of people who smiled at him. Most of the faces belong to his absolute partner, Cliff ... who always smiled at him. But ..._

 _"Sir…!"_

 _"Sir! Ca ... can you hear me?"_

 _Gray opened his eyes, and vaguely he saw a red hooded girl came back. The girl took his short sword and hurt one of her own palm with it. After that, he began to lose consciousness. But for the last time he could see it. She was pouring her dripping bloods from her right palm onto his wound. After that he couldn't remember anything anymore._

And when he woke up this morning, he found his stomach skin was clean without any scratches at all. He also saw the girl's hand bandaged. So it was real. The girl completely made his wound "disappear".

"Just... Who... are you?" He asked in confusion.

She smiled brightly, and answered his question shortly, "I'm Claire!"

Gray rose slowly from his position. The wound did not hurt at all, but effect of drugs given by the robbers still influenced him.

"Are you okay, Sir?" Claire asked, worried. Gray was sitting with his leg crossed in front of Claire. He just like his usual self, expressionless, but now his brows slightly furrowed.

"Are you a witch?" he asked without preamble.

Claire seemed to think for a moment, and then shook her head quickly for several times. "No, I'm not."

"Then how did you do this with your blood?" Gray asked, pointing to his unwounded stomach.

Claire went back to her silent and thinking mode, until finally answered briefly, "Sorry, I can't tell you."

"Heh ..." Gray responded skeptically. This girl was obviously hiding something. But as usual, Gray chose not to get involved any further. "I don't really care about whom you are, but thank you. You saved my life," said Gray, staring straight into her eyes. He didn't smile, but his straight eyes were enough to make Claire's face slightly flushed.

He stood up and saw the unfamiliar area surrounding him. "Do you know where we are?" Gray asked. She shook her head, no idea. Of course, judging from her tribal motif clothes, Gray even doubt she knew where she wanted to go.

"Do you have a certain destination? From here I'm going to Forget-Me-Not Valley," said Gray.

"Zephyr ..."

"Yes?"

"I have to go to Zephyr."

-000-

"Zephyr?" Gray repeated the word again, made sure he didn't hear it wrong. Claire nodded, though her face was a bit looking down.

Zephyr. The city had been famous as a center of world trading. That was, until a great battle clashed between Zephyr and Castanet. Zephyr was beaten badly. As if that was not enough, a big earth quack happened and put that town in despair. After that, Zephyr became a dead town, a perfect place for world's fugitives. People who were willing to go there were criminals, traffickers, or hunters, just like him.

Looking at Claire's troubled expression, Gray decided not to ask her further. "You can go to Zephyr through Forget-Me-Not Valley, Flower Bud, and then... Castanet. It's not a close place."

Claire nodded, giving impression that she understood, but he doubted her. She seemed innocent, pure, fragile, and... Stupid. He sighed, tried to calm his own mind. This girl somehow made his feeling uneasy. He couldn't just leave her alone.

"Our first destination is same, so I think we can get to Forget-Me-Not Valley together," Gray said, pressing his thumb and index fingers to his forehead. He could not believe he volunteered himself to travel with someone. Moreover, she was a girl.

Claire lightened up and smiled. He caught a glimpse of water in her eyes. Apparently, when she lowered her face before, she almost burst in tears. "Thank you," she said.

"Ah, but ..." Claire suddenly remembered something.

"Yeah?"

"I left my money and bag..."

Gray sighed for the nth times, realizing that he didn't bring his own belonging either. "Do you remember how to go back?" he asked as he stretched his muscles that started to recover.

-000-

Claire took her bag and its contents that were scattered in a small hut near the stable. She also grabbed Gray's brown bag and handed it to him, who was standing in front of two criminals. The criminals duo were bound together with their backs were facing each other. Gray took a waist bag belong to the skinny robber. There was a small bamboo container. He took some needles out of it.

"So this is what you used to attack me yesterday, huh?" he asked as he checked one of the needles carefully. He lifted the fatso's arm, and injected the poison needle on him. His resistance was stopped as he lost consciousness very soon.

"Wow. Great affect. Have you ever tastes your own poison?" Gray pulled the skinny one's arm, and stabbed him with another needle. He went straight to sleep, just like his fat buddy.

"You beat them so easily," commented Claire in her amazed.

"If I had not poisoned, I can certainly untied myself from that stupid ropes," Gray said proudly. He put the bamboo containers into his own bag, just in case.

"Help me bring them onto cart. We'll gain a bunch of gold if we bring them to the police," Gray said. Claire did as he asked for without any complaint. From there on, they just had to follow the map they took from the robber.

"Are you a hunter?" she asked when they were on the cart. Gray controlled the horse, and Claire sat beside him.

"Yes," answered Gray shortly.

Claire thought for a moment before asked, "Hey. What are you going to do in the Forget-Me-Not Valley?"

Gray did not answer. Instead, he asked her back, "If I answer your question, would you to tell me what you are going to do in Zephyr?"

The question made Claire paused for a moment. Claire let her breath out, blow it to her hands, trying to get herself warmer. "Sorry," she apologized.

"Yeah," As usual, he only answered shortly.

"Ah!" Claire suddenly stood up, made the small cart shaking and almost lost its balance.

"What's wrong?! Don't stand up so suddenly!" He expressed his annoyance. Claire sat back and apologized.

"I'm sorry. Uhm ... what's your name?" she asked timidly. Gray sighed. He just remembered. All this time he hadn't mention his name to her.

"Gray," He answered, as short as usual. Being together with him for a very short time, she wanted to think that this rude hunter was actually a very nice person. With her positive attitude, Claire responded him with a smile. Once again, while she was looking at the blue sky dotted with cirrus clouds, she recalled his name.

"Gray ..."

-000-

Konohana village, Konohana's Mountaintop.

A man in his 30s was standing by fences which separated mountain path from the deep cliff. His red hat and overclothe matched well together with autumn leaves around him. A large eagle flied over and perched on his arm. He was immediately aware of a letter bounded on its feet. He picked it up and recognized the sender from its turquoise paper color.

"Reina?"

He opened the letter and read it. His eyes widened. Without wasting any moment, he climbed up to his brown horse, rode it down the mountain path at high speed to the village.

"Reina has lost Claire!" he cursed, inwardly.

The horse's stomping sounds on the ground made uproar at Konohana horse farm where the man stopped. "Kana! This is terrible!" He called for Kana, a man around his age who was brushing his favorite horse.

"What is it, Dirk?" Kana asked worried. Kana had long brown hair which tied behind. Kana had dark-skin, strong build, and had an ethnic tattoo circled his upper arm. He was an inverse of Dirk. Dirk had short light brown-hair, fair-skin and thin body.

"She lost Claire. As I thought, we shouldn't follow that old hag's suggestion to let them went alone!" Dirk exclaimed his annoyance. Kana tried to calm him down and thinking with cool head, but Dirk couldn't be as patient as Kana.

"I'm searching for her!"

Kana stopped him by holding his arms and send him a dead glare. "Wait, Dirk. You got your own job here. If you go, who's gonna take care those wild creatures that appear in the woods?"

He turned his eyes to Kana and peered at him. "You yourself should be enough to do it, right?" asked him, enforced.

Kana indisposed to take his job, of course. "Hey, I couldn't do it by myself all the tim ..."

"Tell Hiro to help you, I'm going now!" He cut Kana's complaint. He immediately turned his horse and rode out of the village. Kana, who was left alone, heaved a long sigh. Dirk was always stubborn. Especially when it came to Claire, who was like a sister –ah, no, a daughter, to him. Shortly after Dirk's departure, Kana heard a long howl from the direction of mountain. He sighed again, this time seemed more resignedly. Kana entered his house just to come out back with a pair of long samurai in his hands. From now on, he had to replace Dirk's shift to guard forest from beasts. Yes, the beasts that, since sometimes ago, began to invade the world of Harvest Moon.

-000-

(To be continued ...)

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Thanks for the reviews, **Umbreonix** and **Mnemah**.

I can't find a beta… yet. So I decided to open my grammar book and proofreading by myself. Uhm… I hope you won't mind my impatience x(

So, yeah, you might get a picture about what happened in this story, now. I separated Konohana's generation fifteen years older than Claire-Gray's generation.

See ya xD


	4. Goodbye at the fork

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 4 ~**

 **"Goodbye at the fork"**

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The cart bringing Gray and Claire finally arrived in the border of Forget-Me-Not Valley at around 7pm. The city gate guarded by two persons armed with long spears. Claire was staying in their cart, while Gray was negotiating something with the gatekeepers. One of the gatekeepers glanced at the two criminals who were still unconscious, then turned his eyes back to Gray. Gray and Claire had changed their clothes which covered in blood with the new clothes they took from the robbers' belonging. They wore local clothes, so that Claire didn't seem like an isolated tribe anymore.

Gray finished talking to the guard. He walked back to Claire and rode their horse entering the city. As they passed through the gate, one of the guards said something to Gray with a slight tone of teasing.

"You can find that beautiful dancer you're chasing for, near the Turtle Pound!" he exclaimed. Gray seemed to take it cool, but it only made Claire filled with more curiosity.

"So, you're looking for a girl here?" asked Claire. Gray just gave her a short answer, "Yeah," and put an end to their conversation. Claire just nodded in understanding. She knew why he was unwilling to tell her his reason coming to this town.

 _That cold man? Chasing a girl? That's unthinkable._

Gray stopped their cart in front of a police station. He got off and entered the police station calmly, as if it was his usual routine. Claire followed him. She was surprised when he directly appointed one fugitive flyer on the police's notice board. Just like when he talked to gatekeepers, he talked to the police in a very professional manner. Surely he did this procedure often as part of his job as hunter.

"How do you know that they're the wanted criminals?" she asked.

Gray, who was filling a paper form, replied without even turning his face to her. "I am a hunter, remember? Memorizing the faces of criminals wanted by international police is the key to gain a lot of money."

Again, Claire nodded her head understanding. She turned her gaze to their cart. One of the police officers was examining carefully the unconscious robbers. After made sure they got the right persons, the police told a clerk in their office to give them two strings of Gold. It was equally 20,000 Gold.

"Thank you, Mr. Hunter. Harvest Moon Interpol has been trying to catch them for a long time. You're great!" said another officer. Gray then left the police station, followed by Claire. He walked down the shopping area which was still bustling from citizens' activities. She kept following him until he suddenly stopped at a fork. One road to the south, one road to the west. He opened his bag, and gave her a string of Gold.

"Eh?" Claire asked, confused.

"You also take a part, so the half is yours," He said while wearing back his bag. Claire, who just received the money, still petrified on her feet.

"If you want to go to Flower Bud, just follow the main road to the west. If you keep walking, you can reach the town border by tomorrow afternoon. But I suggest you to get some rest and get yourself an inn tonight," He said. Again, she was motionless. As if she just notice that they had to separate in Forget-Me-Not Valley, and she had to continue the rest of her journey alone.

"Uhm... How about you?" asked Claire, hesitantly.

"I have to do some matters in this town," He answered shortly. He not used to do this, but this time he tried to smile, even though it was just a light smile, to her.

"Take care. Goodbye, Claire," he said. Without any hesitation, he walked to the south and disappeared among the crowds of people. She stood still in her place, holding a string of Gold that felt cold in her hands.

"Goodbye, Gray ..." she said softly. She looked around, and decided to seek an inn for the night. Again, Claire felt her legs frozen.

"When I am alone, somehow everything feels cold," Claire murmured. She clenched her hand, as if it could bring out all the strength and courage inside her.

"You can do it, Claire ..."

-000-

-Minerals Town-

Dirks spur on his hefty brown horse through the north forest of Mineral Town. He stopped and tied the horse near the church. Once dismounted, Dirk closed his eyes and muttered something that made his ruby pendant lit up.

"Tell me where Reina is," Dirk commanded. Understanding his master's command, the pendant depicted an arrow directed to where Reina was located. Dirk immediately followed that direction, and arrived at an inn named Doug's Inn. It didn't take a long time for him to find a woman he was looking for. Reina was a woman around his age, with long black hair braided into two, and a turquoise clothe with unique motifs.

"Reina!" Dirk was breathless, but didn't intend to waste even a second. He immediately approached Reina who was sitting beside the window.

"Still haven't found Claire yet?" Dirk asked impatiently. Reina shook his head weakly. He looked very annoyed, but tried to calm himself by inhaling a deep breath. He sat in front of her, closed his eyes and tilted his hurting pain. "Why? Why we can't track her whereabouts? As if… something or someone is covering her existence ..."

Seeing his friend in frustrating, Reina could only shut her mouth. She had told the brief story to Dirk in her letter: she lost Claire when they passed through the crowd in a festival at the next town. The last time she was able to track her down, she was heading to Mineral Town, but after that ... As if being gulped down by the earth, she disappeared.

"Do you remember what Oracle said?" Reina asked with a weak tone. Dirk raised his eyebrows. Oracle, a 180-year-old woman with the look of a 15 years old girl. Perhaps he knew, but he didn't want to care. "Fate will find its way ... maybe this is the destiny given by Harvest Goddess to us," she said. "That's why I'm sure, where ever Claire is, she will be alright," she continued.

Contrary to Reina's calmness, Dirk couldn't accept it. He squeezed his fist. Upset.

"What can that little girl do? She never went outside our small village, and now she's alone in this dangerous world! She can't even use magic to protect herself, Reina!" He growled. Since he mentioned 'magic' with a loud voice, he attracted the attention of many Inn's visitors Inn, even Doug who was at the counter. She aware of it and took him out of the Inn.

"Dirk, please calm down! I know you are concerned about Claire, but that's not the right way. For the sake of this world, there are more important things that we, Konohanas, have to do!" Reina finally raised her voice. But with his stubbornness, he just kept quiet with angry face. Reina looked around, made sure there was no one there, and then whispered to Dirk, "Other gates have opened. Konohana is not the only gate, anymore."

Her statement managed to make his face color turned pale. Reina leaned on the fence creped by wild vines. She gave him a concerned look. She bet there was a big conflict happened inside him. He was very fond of Claire, at least she knew that much.

The silence between them broke by a hawk's screeching. It was spinning a few feet above them, and landed gracefully on the Inn's fence. They instantly recognized the hawk's owner from the three white stripes on its tail.

"Sheng," Reina said. She untied the letter at the hawk's feet read it.

"Haven't I told you?" she handed the letter to Dirk. He immediately read it and made a deep frown of worries.

"He asks us to leave the matter to Claire, and to do our own tasks. As the only group the blessed with magic, maintaining the stability of this world is our highest priority," she reread the contents of the letter. Dirk closed his eyes, trying to calm himself.

Shortly afterward, he re-opened his eyes.

"Haven't I told you?"

He squeezed the letter in his hand,

"Claire could not even use any magic ..."

And burned it into ashes with his power,

"But why..."

Tears were streaming down his face,

"Why she has to bear such responsibility ...?"

Felt useless and weak because he couldn't do anything for his little girl, Claire.

She lift her hand hesitated and put it on the his shoulder. He patted his shoulder lightly. Very lightly. Vaguely, Oracle's message when they decided to do this mission back then, ringing in her ears:

" _We just put everything back to the way it should be._ "

-000-

-Forget-Me-Not Valley-

Claire threw his body on a soft bed in the room she rented. Her right hand held an opened map. She saw the map once again. The distance between Forget-Me-Not Valley and Zephyr was not close. If it took one week from Konohana to this place on horseback, it might take two weeks or more to get to Zephyr by foot.

The night had fallen and it was late, but the town's streets were still crowded. This town was very different from Konohana, her hometown. In Konohana, she could hear the song of crickets and frogs clearly. Her mind flied to her lovely village. She imagined what usually done by people of Konohana at times like this.

Ying and Razhi might still practicing magic with Sheng. Ah, but because I can't use magic, usually I'm just watching them...

Uncle Dirk might still in the mountains, patrolling in the forest...

The old man Gombe might sitting on his porch, enjoying the sound of his favorite crickets...

Moko, Kana, and Hiro might still drinking at Grandma Yun's restaurant.

Reina, Ina, and Nori were chatting at the Town Hall.

But ...

Tonight it might different.

"I and Reina were separated by festivals crowded. I got kidnapped. It must be hard for her to find me. Why she hasn't found me?" She murmured. Truthfully, fears and negative thoughts kept coming to her head. Reina was a great wizard. It should be easy for her to find Claire. But it had been three days since she was kidnapped. Something was wrong. What if her existence was fading away that no magic could find her? What if Reina never bothered to look for her in the first place? Was she really had to go to Zephyr even though she was alone? For what purpose she went through all of this?

"... _put everything back to the way it should be_."

Claire moved her fingers, feeling her own skin texture. She could feel it. The tip of her nerves were working. It made her felt that she was existed and lived here. Suddenly, her heart throbbed. She curled up; burying her clenched in front of her chest to calm herself.

 _Disappear… How does it feel?_

-000-

(To Be Continued ...)


	5. Mystical Dance

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 5 ~**

 **"Mystical Dance"**

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"Are you leaving?" asked a boy with the long brown tied hair. He sat down with an orange haired boy at the dock. Swaying their feet, they formed a small ripple on the clear green sea surface. The orange haired boy looked at a large ship docking not too far away from them. A pride showed on his face.

"Yep. We'll set sail tonight," said the orange-haired boy. Seeing his friend very enthusiastic, the brown-haired envied. He stopped swinging his legs and had this sad look on his face.

"Me, too, I want to leave this town," he said. This made the orange-haired stopped swaying his legs as well. "I want to see the world, just like you and your father," he continued.

Seeing his friend sad, the orange-haired got up from his seat and stretched out his hand, with a big smile on his face.

"Then just come along with us! My father has gone to many amazing places. He has a lot of underlings. You could be my first underling!" exclaimed the orange-haired youthfully. The brown-haired smiled. He reached orange boy's hand and stood beside him. The orange-haired boy was shorter than him, so he deliberately twined the smaller boy's neck and rested his weight completely on him. Of course the orange-haired couldn't handle it and almost fell upward.

"Me? Your underling?" The brown-haired sounded angry, which was a contrary from the awkward smile on his face. Feeling a little choked, the orange-haired tried to release his friend's twine.

"O-ouch! Let me go, Cliff!" complained the orange-haired boy. Cliff, the brown-haired, finally released his twine. He put his hands on his waist and looked up to the wide sky spreading in front of him. The dusk had gotten his eyes warmer. The orange was too much. As if his world suddenly expanded to the limitless distance, he felt like his heart was going to burst in ecstasy.

"I'll go with you, Gray ..." he decided. His determination made Gray, the shorter boy with orange hair, smiled.

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"I want to see the world with you ..."

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"Hahaha! Now I'm one centimeter higher than you are!"

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"Thank you, Gray ..."

.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?"

.

"Cliff!"

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"Cliff!"

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"I've live a good life, partner ..."

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Drip.

A drop of water fell from Gray's eyes. His blue iris reflected the red color of blazing bonfire in the middle of girls dancing in ethnic dress. Their maroon wide skirt was fluttering just like the fire. The sounds of tiny little bells on their ankles and hair were calling for their flame creature comrade. The huge bonfire's spark got his eyes sored. He was petrified.

A touch on his skin woke him up from his mind.

"Do you like it, Sir?" asked a tall man with a tall hat decorated by a single big flower pinned. He sat next to him, bringing a bottle of wine. Gray didn't really care about it, but from his appearance, the man was strange indeed. The man offered him the wine, but he refused. He wiped his teary eyes quickly. Lucky the darkness hid his tears.

"Peoples say this is not just an ordinary dance. People used this dance to summon the spirits of those who long gone. Don't daze too much, or those who died might take your soul away, haha!" the man explained without being asked. He understood what the man said. In this crowded place, you barely heard any sound other than the dancers' music. Just like him, peoples were petrified.

He sat among the peoples who formed a circle around the large bonfire. In the midst of them, six women performed an ethnic dance with middle-tempo pounding music. They were chanting, accompanied with various percussion and string instruments. The dance ended with the shrill voices of the female dancers. Their shrill sounded like screams of demon warriors. The audiences, overwhelmed under their magic influence, broke the silent by clapping their hands boisterously. They enjoyed the show. Gray wasn't sure if he could call this dance beautiful. Because, rather than beautiful, Gray felt that this dance ...

"Scary, isn't it?"

Gray turned to the right. Again, the man in with a high hat was talking to him. He drank the wine straight from the mouth of bottle, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "I've seen it three times, but still it creeps me out!" the man continued. Gray turned his gaze back to the middle of the circle. They were preparing for the next show.

"How long they've been here?" he asked.

"Hm ~ almost two weeks, I guess. I heard today is their last day in the city. Too bad. You see the brown-haired woman over there? She's so beautiful!" the man said, pointing his index finger to one of the dancers. Gray looked at the women. She's a young woman with long straight brown-haired and gentle expression. He didn't realize it until just now, but he knew that woman. She was his purpose of coming to this town.

They were resting at the time, so he took the opportunity to getting closer.

"Celia," he called. She turned to look the caller.

"Yes?" she frowned her forehead, clearly did not recognize him. Her clear brown eyes were similar to the guy who had come to his mind amid the mystical dance earlier.

"I'm Gray. Do you remember me?" he asked.

"Gray ...?" Celia's puzzled expression immediately changed into shocked expression.

"Gray! " she exclaimed." Then ..." Celia was looking around his surrounding, but did not find what she was looking for.

"Where is he?" Celia asked, looking a little angry. Gray bowed his face. Not sure what expression he had to show her.

"Cliff's dead," he said in a weak voice. Frown in Celia's forehead was getting deeper. "He asked me to pass this to you," he continued, handing a flower-shaped gold hair ornaments, dotted with pretty red gemstones.

Celia received it, but didn't react at once. She smiled strangely, tried to assume that the man over there was only kidding.

"You're lying, aren't you? My big brother is not likely to die ..."

"I'm sorry Celia. He died ... because of me ..."

Hearing that, she felt her legs lost its strength. She sat on the ground, letting her beautiful wide maroon skirt brushed off the dirt. He kneed, lowering his eyes to the same level as hers, and once again bowed his head. Celia clenched her hands. When she finally got strength to look him, she stared him sharply with her red and teary eyes.

"Why did you take him away from us? Do you know what had happened to us while he was away?" Celia was not trying to keep her temper. She grabbed Gray's shirt, squeezed it in her annoyed with her small hands. Gray didn't fight back. He just stayed quiet. Celia hit his chest with all her strength.

"Our mother died from disease ..."

One hit.

"But he did not even know it ...!"

Another hit.

"All because you poisoned him with your stupid thoughts ...!"

Another hit.

"Why did you take him away from us?" Celia sobbing, couldn't handle her emotion no more.

 _It doesn't hurt at all._

 _Ah ..._

 _I hope she hit me harder than this,_

 _So hard that it's kill me,_

 _Yeah. I deserve it._

But the small and delicate hands of her didn't have that much strength. She stopped hitting him when she lost all her energy, and just cried afterwards.

"Go away! I don't want to see you again!" she cried and cried.

Two female dancers came closer because of the noises. They took Celia in their embrace, and then glared him in suspicion.

"Who are you? What's your problem with Celia?" asked one of them.

Gray stood back and put his usual cold expression. He didn't want to create any bigger problems. Moreover, his business with his partner's sister had completed.

"I'm sorry, Celia. I'm leaving," he said. As usual, he wasn't good at words. He had no idea how to stop her tears. He didn't know how to express his true feelings. Therefore he chose to leave.

Just when he was about to walked away, he heard the sound of boisterous applause. Apparently they already began the other performances. A Labrador dog had just jumped over the ring of fire. One other dog, smaller than before, did the same attraction. And then came the turn for the biggest dog. Just like before, their trainer gave them some commands. But unlike the previous dog, the big dog won't jump. It stood still, glared and roared at the circus carriage which placed next to Gray. He followed the dog's eyes. There was nothing strange. Only Cliff's sister was still crying there, accompanied by her friends. Suddenly, the dog started to bark, followed by the two other dogs. In that silence, without any music played, just some dogs barking on an empty circus carriage. Frankly it made the audience who just recently presented by a mystical dance, drown in fear and wonder.

Everyone was shocked by the loud sound of a tear fabric of carriage's cover. The fabric was torn from inside. It was torn in a diagonal slash, and from its slash, a long curved rusty iron was seen. Whether the audience or members of the circus, they were stoned in wondering. No one took a step from their place. But Gray's instinct said there was something evil inside that carriage.

"Stay away from the carriage!" he shouted. Unfortunately, everyone's react seemed pretty slow at this time. 'Something' got off quickly from the torn carriage's cover. Gray ran toward Celia and her two friends, and drew his sword just on time. His sword met against a curved, long, rough and rusty iron weapon. The weapon seemed made badly. The rusty iron was mixed with black dirty disgusting slime. But the weapon's holder was even worse. He had a pair of legs and arms just like human. But he crooked, he was about 4 feet high, his head seemed like a goat with snout, long pointy ears, a deep blue skin with rough texture –some even flaky, and his breath and body smelled very bad.

Gray was holding his sword and tried to estimate the strength of that strange creature.

The creature was strong and fast.

"What are you?" Gray asked at the strange creature. He did not answer. His expression did not change at all. The creature was suddenly attacked him and pushed him hard with his weapon. Gray felt to the ground. Not stopping there, he attacked and injured Gray's arm that holding sword. The creature then separated away from Gray and swung his weapon carelessly. The audiences who had been stoned finally woke up and started to run away to save themselves. Gray knew that he had to put this fight to an end immediately before there was any victim. He attacked the creature with a quick slash, this time on the nape, and separated his head his body. The stink black blood was splashed over Gray's cheeks and shirt. Gray didn't try to wipe it. He was trying to control his breath. He turned to the side, looked at the frighten Celia.

"Are you okay?" asked him between his pants. Celia nodded. Her eyes widened when she looked at his side. He followed her gaze.

"Lo ... look at that!" exclaimed someone, shocked. Though that person was not the only one shocked. Gray and all people who witnessed this situation were completely in shock. The body of that strange creature broke into small lights which slowly disappearing to the sky. As if the creature did not simply die. He 'disappeared'.

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-000-

Although she had tried to close her eyes, Claire couldn't bring herself to sleep. Moonlights infiltrating from the window invited her to look out of the window. In the distance, she could see a bonfire surrounded by a lot of people who formed a big circle, with two large carriages on their side.

Maybe it was the dancer discussed by the gatekeeper and Gray.

 _What kind of girl attracted that cold hunter and made him searching for her so badly? I am curious._

The winds were playing her blond hair which was not covered in her red hood. She stepped out of her room, down the stairs lodging, and went to the south –where the big bonfire was located. She walked slowly while enjoying the night air and the crowded she rarely met. She halted when there were so many people running to the opposite direction.

"There's a monster!" cried some residents.

When she heard it and digest its meaning, she began to run, break through the mass flow. There she saw a monster lied with separated head. There was someone she knew, standing with his hands covered in blood, holding a sword smeared with black liquid. He turned to a beautiful brown haired woman beside him, and then said something that she couldn't hear.

"Look at that!" someone cried, made Claire looked back at the strange creature. The monster broke down into light. Yes, he 'disappeared'.

Claire hands and knees were shaking. She obviously ain't fine after seeing what had happened. And she was not the only one. The orange-haired men with blue eyes wore the same expression as her: absolute fear.

Police officers arrived at the location. Didn't want to get involved, Gray sheathed his sword which still covered in disgusting black liquid. He slipped away from the crowds, quietly.

Claire, with her trembling body, spontaneously followed Gray and pulled the edge of his shirt, tried to stop him from leaving.

"Wa-wait!"

Gray halted and turned to see her panic blue eyes.

"You're a hunter, aren't you? If I pay, you'll help me, right?" asked Claire quickly, her voice was a bit trembling. Although Gray didn't respond, she wasn't giving up. She walked before him and grabbed his sleeve.

"Please take me to Zephyr. I have to go to there as soon as possible! I'm definitely going to pay!"

Gray could see an abnormal fear in her eyes. But that was what he always seen from this girl since their first meeting: she was abnormal.

 _Helping her?_

 _Right now, I don't want to have anything to do with anyone._

 _Why should I help her?_

 _Money?_

 _Ah, I don't care._

"Just go ask someone else," he answered plainly. His voice was weak. He didn't even slap her hand grabbing him. He looked like he was tired, very tired. And there was something different about his blue eyes. As if there was no soul inside his body.

Claire released his sleeves. It was hurting her to see his current condition. She was afraid if she dared to press him more, he would hate her. Maybe, a very sad thing had happened to him after they parted.

"You know Gray?"

A voice from behind made her turned around.

It was the beautiful brown-haired woman Gray talked to, earlier.

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(To be continued…)


	6. Accompany

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 6 ~**

 **"Accompany"**

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-Konohana-

Her name was Oracle. With her pink wavy hair, white smooth skin, and her tiny figure, no one would ever expect that she was a 180-year-old grandma. She lived alone in a house located at the slopes of the mountain connecting Konohana and Bluebell villages. She spent her days looking for useful plants in the mountains, making potions, or sometimes carrying out magic rituals. She had many friends in Konohana because that village was the only place where the magic tradition still stood firmly. In most parts of the Harvest Moon World, magic had almost disappeared completely.

Konohana was able to survive because it was located in a remote area, far away from the big city. However, according to Oracle, everything was possible because of the intervention from the Harvest Goddess. The proof was because almost all Konohanas could use magic. Rather than, magic abilities were greatly determined by talent. And here in Konohana, almost all of the population was born with magical talents. Surely this was not a random coincidence.

That day, as usual, Oracle was visiting the Harvest Goddess' Lake to give her strawberries as an offering. The Harvest Goddess had become a kind of best friend to Oracle since she was small.

"Hey, Oracle!"

The Harvest Goddess would always appear if Oracle threw in her favorite offering: a strawberry. Oracle sat on a big rock at the edge of the lake while the Harvest Goddess rested her back on the other side of lake. Half of the Harvest Goddess upper body emerged on the surface and her fish tail stayed in the water.

"What's wrong?" asked the Harvest Goddess.

Oracle's childish face smiled. "It seems that the world's crack began to spread. _Sigh_ ~ you know, I don't know what else we can do. Even though we have spread our people to most parts of the world to handle this situation, I'm not sure if we can cover a whole world."

"Eh~ really~" Harvest Goddess responded in her usual playing around tone.

Oracle sighed.

She looked up to see a bright blue sky above them and some sparrows were crossing over. Oracle looked back at Harvest Goddess, facing her seriously. "Have you planned everything? Do you intend to end this world?"

Hearing the question, the Harvest Goddess let out a chuckle.

"Do you like this world, Oracle?" the Harvest Goddess didn't bother to answer her question. She looked up at the sky, as if it held the answer she needed.

"... Yes, I like it."

The Harvest Goddess smiled, then she ate the strawberry that Oracle had given her earlier. "Sweet, I like it! Thank you, Oracle!" she exclaimed. She liked it because the strawberry was sweet. After that, she drowned herself and disappeared into the lake.

Oracle stayed in her place, muttering softly,

"Even there're so much bitter things happen ...?"

Since her talkative friend had left, Oracle walked down the mountain towards Konohana. She stopped when she saw Razhi, a 14 years old boy who was sitting on the guardrail, facing the abyss and looking at the blue sky spreading in front of him. Oracle, with her habit of fooling around, startled him by tracing down his back using her index finger. She knew how sensitive the boy was if touched on his neck and back. Sure enough, Razhi lost his balance and almost falling upward.

"Wu-Wuah!" Razhi shouted in surprise, trying to not fall. Seeing the funny expression, Oracle laughed it off.

"Sigh ... Master Oracle?" complained Razhi, his face was still pale in shock.

"Hey, Razhi!" Oracle greeted with her usual cheerful attitude. Razhi currently replaced Dirk's shift to protect the forest, partnering with Kana.

Oracle jumped up and sat down beside him.

"Any word from Dirk?" she asked.

Razhi sighed.

"Uncle Dirk or anyone in Konohana ain't able to find Claire yet. So Old man Sheng sent Uncle Dirk to Flower Bud in order to help that area, in case the gate's open," said Razhi.

Oracle nodded in understanding. She then stood up and stepped her feet on the small wooden guardrail.

"We don't know when or where the other gates will open. Rather than spreading forces randomly, isn't it better if we focus on looking for Claire and solve everything as soon as possible? What if Claire deliberately hides her own presence so that she doesn't need to complete her mission?" Razhi finally spilt his negative thoughts out.

Oracle pouted and kicked Razhi's shoulder rudely, making him lost his balance once again and nearly falling upward.

"Is that smart brain of yours shrinking ? Have you forgotten that Claire can't use magic?" she showed her disappointment over his shallow assumption.

"I-I know! I know! Come on, I'm just complaining, and many of the villagers are thinking the same thing!" he eluded.

Oracle sighed, "You, Claire, and Ying grew up together. You know exactly what kind of person she is, don't you?"

Razhi sighed, again.

"I know. She would never run away like a coward."

Oracle smiled. She put her hand on the big cap on Razhi's head. Usually, when Oracle treated him like a child, he would protest to save his pride. But this time, he said nothing.

"Something's bothering you?" Oracle asked.

"I feel bad," he said with a sad face. "On one hand, I hope that Claire will never be found. Yet, I'm also scared, imagining what would happen if Claire chose to save herself over the entire world. I feel like... I'm throwing Claire away. It's frustrating," he continued.

Oracle looked at his profile. His feelings might be the same as Kana, Dirk, and most Konohanas who knew Claire since she was a baby. Having the little girl to process the mission meant letting her receive the very cruel fate.

"Aah ... ain't it bitter?" Oracle muttered to herself. The autumn winds played with her long skirt and pink wavy hair. The breeze was cold. Yet in their hearts, it was a lot colder.

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-000-

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-Forget-Me-Not Valley-

Claire sat awkwardly on a high bar stool in Blue Bar. She had never been to a place like this before, but a girl named Celia, who she had just met, forced her to come along. Celia's circus performance was canceled due to a strange chaos. Even so, Celia was still wearing her costume; complete with her little bells that jingled every time she moved.

They were sitting side by side. Celia was lazily twirling red cherries in her green colored drink. Claire didn't drink alcohol; she just ordered a glass of orange juice.

"What's your relationship with Gray?" asked Celia.

"Eh? Relationship?" Claire paused to think for a moment, "Aaah, please do not worry! We just met on the way. We're not even close enough to be called friends ..."

The girl's reaction made Celia giggle.

"Haha. I guess you misunderstand something, Miss, um ...?"

"Claire,"

"Miss Claire! I'm not worried, because he's not my boyfriend," she said. She gulped down her drink until it was dry, and then stared at the empty glass with hatred. "I hate him. So much."

She shifted her position, facing Claire, and then holding Claire's cheek with her beautiful long fingers. "Were you, by any chance, lured by him? Just like my stupid brother?"

Being in an unfamiliar situation, poor Claire was motionless. Celia sent a deadly glare to Claire and gave her advice, "He killed my brother. And he will kill you too. Just leave that jerk alone."

... The advice made Claire shiver and want to escape out of the bar. But she didn't let her fear get to her. Celia asked Claire to accompany her, and she told Claire about a lot of things.

"You know? My brother was thrilled at the sight of a huge ship docked at our small island. He even befriended the son of its owner, Gray. Gray told us about many, many interesting things outside of our small, remote hometown. It never crossed my mind that those stories had my brother's mind poisoned. Brother decided to leave with them because he was very fascinated by Gray and his father. Saying that he wanted to be strong, wanted to see the world, whatever ... he always talked about Gray with shining eyes. But that is what tore our family to pieces. "

Claire took a sip of her orange juice. She decided to listen to Celia's story who looked very frustrated.

"Even when our mother died from an epidemic a few years ago, my brother was not there with us. After our mother died, I left the island and joined the circus. And now suddenly Gray came to me, saying that my brother died ... how dare he? For me ... he's just my little family's destroyer. I hate him. "

This time Celia clenched the glass with all her strength.

Then, Claire stopped drinking.

"I think it's wrong to put blame on Gray just like that," Claire put her mind into words.

"Hm?"

"From what I hear, your brother went to pursue his dream on his own will. It just so happened that Gray was the one who could help him to release his dream life. And about the death of your mother and brother ... those are fates from Harvest Goddess."

-000-

Claire was walking powerlessly. She had walked down many streets in the town searching for Gray, but didn't find any trace of him. After she had saw him defeat the monster, she believed that he was the only one able to take her to Zephyr. And noticing how the monster could endanger people's life, she became more determined to complete her mission as soon as possible.

"Gray?"

Her sight landed on the orange haired man who was sitting on the riverbank. It was dark, but she could see him clutching his arm in pain. She immediately approached him.

"Gray! Are you alright?" she was scared to look at his condition. Closing his eyes, holding his wounded arm, he was breathless. She pulled his arm by force and saw a fairly bad wound there. Blood was dripping from the wound. If he kept bleeding that way, he would have died. Without wasting any more time, Claire began to bite her fingers to draw her own blood out.

"Stop it!" Gray shouted between his heavy breaths. "I don't need your blood!"

Claire was shocked by his shout and petrified for a moment, but after that she put back her thumb to her mouth. Seeing that, he pulled Claire's hand and stopped her completely. Gray eyes were wide awake. He was furious.

"Healing blood? Are you also a monster that would disappear into light when you die too?" he asked with a threatening tone.

His question terrified her. It was not something she could deny.

"Ugh." Gray groaned. He obviously was in pain. And he should have known that her blood could heal him in instant.

 _But he didn't want it._

 _Why?_

 _Because my blood's horrible?_

Claire looked around. It was late and they were in a very quiet forest edge. There was no human soul in her field of view.

"The wound can be healed by normal medication. If you don't want to be healed by my blood ... at least let me treat your wound?" Claire pleaded sincerely. Gray narrowed his eyes in suspicion, just like a lone cat who had met a stranger.

"No need. Just leave me alone," he refused coldly.

She shook her head, "I cannot! Y-you will die ..."

"... That's fine. You probably shouldn't have saved me back then ..."

"Why? Do you want to die?" she asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"... dunno. I'm just ... feeling numb," he said in very low voice, almost whispering, more like talking to himself.

"But, back then you insisted to live. Why are you like this now?"

He closed his eyes. He looked exhausted from bearing the pain.

 _Why?_

 _At that time there were things I had to do._

 _My business is over._

 _For what reason I still lingering here?_

A touch on his hands made him re-opened his eyes. Right in front of him, he saw the girl's blue eyes filled with resolution.

"I'm sorry," she said. And suddenly Gray felt a strong blow on his neck. Claire hit him with great power, sendingsent the weak Gray into anhis unconscious state.

"Come with me. I haved tons medicines in my bag," she explained her, lifting his injured arm, and tryingied to carry him with her small body.

She had never done something like this before, but she felt that she had to save Gray. He was suffering so much. His eyes were lifeless. As those people who had lost their loved ones. As if he didn't have a place to call home. As if he had lost every purpose to keep him living.

She laid him on the bed in her rented room. She took his coat and shirt off, and saw a wide bleeding wound on his left upper arm. He said he didn't want to use her blood, so this time she wouldn't cut herself. She took bandages and medicine from her bag. She always brought them wherever she went; she would need them because she couldn't heal her own wound with the healing blood.

Gray sweat a lot throughout the night and even had a high fever. Claire took care of him throughout the night. She went running to the Inn keeper's room and asked for a small towel and water basin. She changed and soaked the towel frequently and tried to stay awake until his fever went down. But the hard day had beat her and she fell asleep leaning on the bedside.

That night, she had a dream. Not a dream about her village, but a very distant place she never knew before. She didn't even exist in the dream.

Cause it was Gray's dream.

Gray's dream which, somehow, flowed into her dream.

-000-

.

.

 _Blonde._

 _Ah, just like that time in Forget-Me-Not Valley's forest._

 _I woke up and saw that blond color. And that clear blue eyes._

 _But there's something different..._

 _Ah, right._

 _That blue eyes watered?_

 _Why?_

Gray saw Claire crying silently at the bedside. It was a strange cry, because she was crying with her eyes wide open, and her hands clasped in front of her mouth.

 _Why does she have such an expression?_

"I'm sorry ..." said Claire.

 _What for?_

"It looks like ... I've just seen your dream ..."

 _Huh?_

 _Dream?_

 _Ah, right. Last night I had a dream ... a dream about Cliff._

 _Not a very pleasant dream. And she just saw it arbitrarily?_

"You can do that? Peeking into my dreams?" Gray asked. He got up and sat on the bed. His eyes were staring at her coldly, causing the girl to freeze up.

"I ... I don't know. It's the first time... And I never meant it, really!" Claire tried to clear up his suspicions. From her eyes, Gray knew that she told no lies.

"Never mind," he sighed. He then touched the bandage that wrapped his wound. He also realized that he was not wearing a shirt. The wound was still hurt and felt wet when he pressed it, meaning she did not use her 'healing blood'.

"And ... um, so ... sorry," she apologized again. Gray raised his eyebrows, seeming to be very bored of hearing her apology. "Bu-but! Me, too... my father died protecting me. And my uncle said that, this life of mine is a blessing that I must treasure. If someone died protecting you ... rather than wishing for death and feel guilty, isn't it better to use your life for the best... for the sake of them? "

Gray felt a chill seep into his heart. She did really see his dream. The dream had happened one year ago. A dream about when he and his hunter partner, Cliff, participated in a mission to find a world-class mafia group. Because of his own carelessness, they were thrown in a desperate situation. At that time Cliff was killed for shielding him. He was hit by an arrow through his chest. Even now, Gray still could feel the blood that spilled from his best friend's body. Everything happened because of his carelessness. He wanted to attack quickly and won the prizes. They planned to use those prizes to get a new ship for their journey; to see the world.

"You know nothing," he growled. He dropped his cold, threatening gaze on her. But she didn't step back even an inch.

"I know! I know, because, right now I'm using this life my father had saved, for the best!" she snapped.

Gray laughed sarcastically. "Indeed, what are you doing actually?"

"I- I can't tell you," she replied in a slightly trembling voice. She had been like this since their very first meeting. She was weak and timid, but at the same time, she had a strong determination.

Looking at her behavior, he just continued his laughter. He looked out of the window and saw the sky which was getting brighter.

"You have to tell me," said Gray without looking at her face. "If you want me accompany you to Zephyr, that is."

.

.

.

(To be continued ...)

A/N:

Yeaay, finally I published this chapter

And I'm sure you'd find a big difference about this chapter. Yep, because **Mnemah-** san has kindly offered her help to beta-reading this chapter. I learn a lot from her, thank you… xD

So, as I've started my English course in RL, I hope I'll get better and better.

Mind to review? X)


	7. The Truth

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **~ 7 ~**

 **"The Truth"**

 **.**

 **.**

-Forget-Me-Not Valley-

,

The thick fog was still hanging over the Forget-Me-Not Valley Town on that early morning. The town's streets were as quiet as the moor in this season. Everything seemed wilted, lonely, and melancholy. In front of an Inn, Claire fastened up her shoelaces. She was done packing her belongings. The girl had changed her clothes and prepared everything that was necessary for her journey to Flower Bud. She smiled as she felt her steps were lighter than the night before. She didn't have to go alone, anymore. The orange-haired man would accompany her.

"Are you done? Let's go," Gray, the orange-haired man put his usual stoic and cold face.

"Uhn," Claire answered with a smile on her face. Her attention was back to Gray's arm. Beyond his jacket, right on his upper arm, he was wounded badly. Yet, he was riding the horse, as if the wound was nothing. She worried that the injury would re-open if he moved too much.

"You sure you don't want me to heal you?" she asked.

"I'm okay," Gray refused. He reached out his hand to help the girl climb up the horse. They left their cart and just went with a single horse to get moving faster. No matter what, Claire wanted them to arrive at Zephyr as soon as possible.

She was riding on the back; holding hesitantly on Gray's jacket, while Gray was holding reins.

"Hey," said Gray.

"Yes?" Claire talked a bit louder to overcome the noise from horse galloping.

"... Nothing," he shrugged it off after a long pause.

"Huh?"

Gray didn't answer and she didn't inquire him any further. They embarked on their journey to Flower Bud at high speed, in silence.

.

 _She didn't tell me ... the reason she has to go to Zephyr ... other than an important mission from her village. Her distance village –where magic still exists and stands firm._

.

Actually, he wanted to ask about the strange creature last night. The way the creature disappeared just rang a bell in his old memories. A long time ago, when he was a kid, he had seen the same scene: a person who disappeared into the lights. Maybe Claire knew something ... no, surely she knew something. But he was reluctant to ask. For the first time in his life, he was afraid to know something.

-000-

Claire and Gray arrived at Flower Bud within three hours. They were passing through the woods and meadows. As they went to the west, they realized that winter was getting closer. Almost all trees had shed their leaves and the pastures seemed more like a desert for all the dried brownish grass covered it.

They wanted to rest at the city's checkpoint, but there was something strange. The first checkpoint was empty. Not a soul could be seen there. Even the post had several damages and it looked like an abandoned place during the post-war period. It was so different from Forget-Me-Not Valley. They passed through the first checkpoint freely, and just found three guards at the city gate –second check point.

"Oh, Gray! Wow, I haven't seen you for years!" exclaimed one middle-aged guard, waving his hand. It seemed that he knew Gray.

"You know each other?" asked Claire.

"Yeah, I had visited this city before."

Just like when Celia first saw him, the guard was looking for someone around him.

"Hm? Where's Cliff? Aren't you with him? That's rare. "

Hearing the same questions, Gray simply replied with his stoic face, "He's not here, Uncle Cody. He is dead."

"Eh? Ah ... is that so," Cody, the guard, responded awkwardly. He smiled to break the ice. "Yeah ... with your hunter job, the risk to lose your life is very big ... well, of course."

Gray nodded slightly.

"And this girl? Your new partner? Or your girlfriend?" Cody asked as he looked at Claire with probing look.

"She's a client hiring me. I have to take her somewhere," Gray replied dryly.

"Oh, is she? Too bad. Even though you're old enough to get married… You're all alone, huh?"

Gray didn't care about Cody's ridicule. His eyes were busy observing the situation of the abnormal quiet town's gate.

"What's going on? Last time I was here, the city guard was very tight," Gray let his mind out.

Cody and the other guards exchanged glances each other –a very suspicious gesture for Gray. As if reaching a consensus, Cody finally dared to speak up.

"You won't believe what's happening here," Cody said.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked in a monotone.

"The monsters appear out of nowhere! Residents have been evacuated to the west of the city. Our mayor assigned the gatekeeper to patrol frequently inside the city. If you intend to stop by, I suggest that you forget your plan. It was terrible inside!" One of the gate keepers explained further. Gray dropped his gaze on Claire who was sitting behind him. Claire looked very frightened as she held tightly on his shirt. Even the cold of her fingers seeped through his shirt.

"We have to pass through this city and go to Zephyr as soon as possible. Could you let us pass?" Gray asked politely. He tried his best to keep his calm and professional tone, but the spoken word turn out giving more chilling effect to the three guards.

"Zephyr? What are you going to do in that ghost town?" asked the guard standing next to Cody.

Gray halted. He didn't know exactly for what reason they went to Zephyr, but the guards' frightened faces seemed suspicious.

"Is there something wrong?" he directed his question to Cody. To make it easier for them to talk, Gray dismounted from the horse, and then helped Claire to do the same.

"Well… No! Haha! It's just ... you know, there are strange rumors about Zephyr recently," Cody answered.

"What strange rumors?" Gray tried to dig further information. And, just like before, the three guards were acting suspicious.

As a hunter, he knew that information was the most expensive thing you could get in this turbulent time. Any significant information leaking might bring the three guards' country into despair. That was why Gray didn't feel offended by their carefulness.

"I'll tell just because it's you, Gray. You know… all this time, Zephyr was a ghost town under Castanet's control, right?"

Gray nodded in understanding over Cody's question.

"Some people find strange movements shadowing over the ghost town. The remaining forces of Zephyr are coming back, they said. Three days ago, some vagabonds were running to east gate, heavily injured. They were attacked by an invisible force in Zephyr. You won't be able to enter Zephyr safely. Rumor has it that the appearance of strange monsters lately is due to black magic activities in Zephyr. Haha! I know you won't believe things like magic and such…" Cody finished his long explanation with a shrug.

Gray looked back at Claire. As he expected, the girl seemed uncomfortable and her eyes sealed with fear.

"Thank you for your information, but still we have to go," Gray insisted, though his face was as stoic as ever.

Cody sighed. He walked closer to Gray and whispered, "You're so stubborn and not afraid of death, huh? How much Gold did she offer to make you take such risks?"

Gray did not answer. He immediately proceeded his way to Flower Bud. Even so, he was still thinking about the question.

 _A reasonable question, indeed._

Since he entered the hunter world, especially after the death of his best friend, money was the only reason for him to 'help' others. That strange girl only gave him a small auriferous knife with some sapphires as decorations. Perhaps, the knife's price was no more than 25,000 Gold. Inappropriate for the risks and dangers he had to face.

 _So, why? Why am I taking the job?_

The conversation with Claire last night somehow told his instinct to help her. The girl said that she was using the life his father's had protected for the best. Hearing that, Gray remembered the words of late Cliff back then. It was a quiet night, a few days before they embarked on a dangerous mission. On that mission, Cliff lost his life.

 _"You know? I have lived a good life, Partner ..." Cliff said out of the blue. That night, he and Gray were enjoying the night sky from the largest lighthouse on Happiness Island._

 _"Huh? What did you say so suddenly?" Gray raised one of his eyebrows, surprised by his friend's sudden confession._

 _"Haha, I dunno. I just feel very satisfied with my life, so far. We've gone through exciting moments that caused my adrenaline to skyrocket, I saw different things around the world with my own eyes, and I have felt the very essences of life ..."_

 _Cliff halted, hanging his melancholy talk just like that. It made Gray not know how to react. He was never good at words._

 _"... you're really exaggerating ."_

 _Cliff shook his head._

 _"After Uncle left four years ago, you changed completely. You were drowning yourself in the darkness."_

 _Gray didn't talk back. He just remembered the time when he lost his way after his father's death._

 _"But I'm glad we're still together in the end," Cliff said. Gray looked at his melancholy face, and then chuckled._

 _"Cause I can accompany you as you move towards your dream?"_

 _"Ha ha!" Cliff laughed it off. His short laughs then turned into a very gentle smile. His gaze was so soft, as gentle as the night wind blowing his brown hair. That evening, the sea breeze was unusually calm, though. Gray barely felt the breeze on his skin. It made him sleepy, but uneasy at the same time. The same feeling he got from someone's killing intent._

 _"Even though the time comes when we can't be together anymore, both of us have to keep going on this path. Right?" Again, Cliff said things that made Gray not know what to say._

 _"... of course," Gray answered shorty, after a long pause. His friend responded to him with a wider smile._

Who would have thought it was the last time he could hear his best friend's melancholy talk. And as Cliff had said, although he didn't know whether he could live his life for the best or not, he would continue to walk on the path they chose.

"What a quiet place ..." said Claire, waking Gray up from his memories. Gray only responded with a small "yes," as usual. They were riding their horses through the shopping areas of Flower Bud.

Gray recalled the town condition when he visited last time. Indeed, the Flower Bud seemed like a completely different place compared to a few years ago: lonely, cold and… dead. It gave off the feeling that monsters might appear any time from the corner of a building. As if reading his mind, suddenly they heard a long howl, followed by a very loud thud.

They saw a huge wolf monster, bigger than any human Gray ever seen, white-haired with a slight hint of deep blue. Its looks were even scarier with its sharp and red eyes.

"Stay back ..." Gray said as he drew his sword. Claire moved backwards according to his command. Feeling threatened by the sword, the monster began to attack Gray, but its fangs failed to reach Gray's body. Instead, a hammer blew the monster from behind. Just one blow and the monster collapsed and disappeared into the lights.

Gray squinted to see the hammer batter that was blocked by the lights. The hammer owner was a man with a red rounded hat, golden hair and eyes, thin and white body. It was hard to believe that that thin arm had an incredible power.

"Uncle Dirk!" Claire exclaimed. Gray turned his sight to see Claire who seemed to recognize that golden-haired man. Yes, it was Dirk; Claire's uncle who told her to use her life for the best.

"Claire?" Dirk expression looked like a child who just found a golden ring in his morning cereal. He made the huge hammer of his fist disappear, then immediately brought Claire into his embrace.

"Where have you been? You made me and Reina deadly worried!" Dirk was messing his niece's blond hair.

"Are you looking for me?" Claire asked, doubtfully. Apparently Dirk had read her doubt right away.

"We were looking for you. But we could not track you at all. What happened?" he wore a worried expression on his face. He then realized the man who had been standing next to Claire all this time.

"Who's he?" Dirk asked wryly. He was very protective about Claire, as if she was his own daughter.

"Gray," Gray replied without showing any expression.

"Who?" that half-hearted reply of Gray made Dirk inexplicably irritated.

"Gray," again Gray simply replied shortly and made Dirk's annoyance grow even more.

"Yes, Gray, who are you?!"

Claire tried to calm her uncle down and stood between the two men.

"He's Gray, a hunter. I asked him to take me to the Zephyr," Claire explained. Dirk squinted, scrutinizing Gray's appearance from his head to his toe.

"You're strong. I guess you're really a hunter," Dirk sneered at him rudely.

Gray just let out his indifferent sigh. He turned his gaze to Claire, telling her to get closer to him with hand signals.

"You've met your uncle. What are going to do next?" Gray asked.

Claire seemed to think, then asked for opinions from her uncle Dirk. "Um ... uncle?"

Dirk looked around, and then took the two of them to a bench nearby. There was no one around. They were not in Zephyr yet, but this town definitely seemed like a ghost town.

"Gray?"

"Yes?"

"How much has Claire told you about her problem?"

Gray frowned. Something told him that this conversation would drag him into a dangerous zone.

 _Should I involve myself further?_

"She told me nothing except that she has an important mission in Zephyr. Though I guess it has to do with the monster that emerged lately? And her healing blood?"

Dirk smiled wryly. He looked at Claire with a bit of disappointment.

"You told him about the blood?" Dirk asked. Claire seemed a bit scared, but nodded honestly.

"He saved me from the kidnappers. And he almost died because of me. That's why... I..."

Hearing the word "kidnapper" from Claire's mouth turned his stern expression softer.

"I see. Thank you for saving her," Dirk thanked as he bowed his head to Gray. Gray shook his head.

"No. She was the one who saved me,"

 _Twice._

Dirk sighed, and then unexpectedly smiled at Gray.

"Thank you for sticking with her so far. From now on, you can wash your hands off and forget about her problem," said Dirk. He rose from his seat and took Claire's hand and walked away.

"Wait a minute," Gray stopped them from going.

"Huh?"

"There's something I want to ask," said Gray. "Those monsters that disappear into the lights when they're killed... what kind of creature are they?"

Dirk turned his cold gaze to Gray. "If I tell you, you might get involved deeper. You'd bring yourself into unthinkable danger, boy," said Dirk, underestimating Gray. Then, as if not even bothered by Gray, he walked away. Feeling irritated, Gray fisted his palm. He pulled Dirk's jacket from behind, causing him to almost trip over backwards.

"What are you doing?!" Dirk snapped. But Dirk's anger immediately vanished when he saw Gray's sharp gaze. Eyes which cut anyone who saw them deeply.

"Tell me the truth. What are they? How could they disappear without leaving any dead body?"

Determination? No, in Dirk's eyes, Gray's interest toward monsters was a little strange. He doubted whether he should involve Gray or not.

This time Claire did the talking. "Sorry to have you involved, Gray. But now, you don't need to burden yourself with..."

"Involve me," Gray cut her words. "You've paid me. And I also want to use this life of mine for the best," he continued.

"Gray..." Claire was motionless. Gray's eyes made her heart felt like it was being pinched. Claire turned and looked at her uncle with pleading eyes.

Dirk nodded, a sign that he agreed to involve Gray.

"But before that, Gray. May I know why you're so keen to know? I'm sure it's not just out of pure curiosity, is it?" asked Dirk.

Gray answered his question without batting his eyes, "I know someone who turned into light when she died."

Gray straightforward answer made both the uncle and his niece's eyes widen. But unlike Claire, Dirk controlled his shock immediately.

"Someone you know? Who is she?" demanded Dirk.

Gray smiled thinly. The same smile Claire had seen as he said goodbye at the fork in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The answer that came from his mouth sent a chill to her heart. It also sent a bitter understanding to Dirk's brain about the meaning of Oracle's statement about 'destiny will find its way'. That's right. Gray's decision to reveal the truth would involve him in the great mission of Konohanas...

That person,

Who made Gray start to hate magic,

She is...

,

,

,

"My mother,"

~ 000 ~

(to be continued ...)

.

A/N:

Thank you for the review, Fre! That's very nice of you. Glad you like it. And as always, I want to thank Mnemah-san who helped me beta-reading this.

Mind to RnR?


	8. Sacrifice

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **~ 8 ~**

 **Sacrifice**

.

.

Claire, Gray, and Dirk were sitting in a circle, facing each other inside an empty abandoned cafe. Dirk took out some drinks from the cabinet casually, as if it was his own cafe. He gave his niece a can of grape juice and a bottle of wine for Gray and himself.

"Gray, actually I don't want to tell you about this. But because of what you said earlier about your late mother... I think you have the right to know."

Gray nodded slightly. His stoic face which barely showed any emotion made Dirk let out a chuckle before starting the serious explanation.

"Those monsters do not belong to this world. They crossed through the dimensional gates from The Rune Factory World. The gates never existed before this. But lately, the gates were formed because of dimensional cracks," Dirk explained. This explanation made Gray frown causing his forehead to wrinkle.

"The Rune Factory World? What's that?"

Dirk drank his wine before answering, "Another dimension aside from The Harvest Moon World we're living in. A fantasy world where monsters are roaming free and every soul is blessed with magic to protect themselves. You know that Zephyr and Castanet were once at war, right?"

"Yes, I know. Since then a huge earthquake hit Zephyr, the town has now become a ghost town. Completely ruined in despair without a single ruler," Gray told what he knew. He began to feel discomfort on his neck because his brain was itching as he tried to guess what had happened.

"The Zephyr rulers back then thought that they could harness the power of Rune Factory to win the long-lasting war against their eternal-rival, Castanet. They performed a forbidden ritual magic to summon The Rune Factory's God, The Blue Dragon. In short, their plan didn't work well, and it disturbed the stability of both dimensions. As a result you can see the dimensional cracks have appeared here and there and are causing the monsters to keep coming into the Harvest Moon World," Dirk ended his long explanation.

Gray was silent for a moment, thinking deeply. He saw through Dirk's golden eyes and ensured his assumptions.

"Then my mother came from Rune Factory?"

Dirk nodded without a single doubt, "Yes."

"Well, that explains a lot," Gray said, leaning back on his chair.

"Yeah?" Dirk smiled slightly as he took a glance at Gray. Meanwhile, Claire's eyes were looking at Gray in worried anticipation.

"Since I was a kid, my physical ability had always been beyond normal. Some people even called me 'monster'. I grew to hate magic and such," he explained.

"That's why you refuse to be healed by my blood?" she asked, still wearing her worried expression.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Claire, I guess I was too harsh on you that day," Gray apologized as he slightly bowed to Claire.

Claire shook her head several times, "It's okay, I understand."

Gray smiled. For the third time she saw his smile. Because he rarely showed any expression, unconsciously she was always looking forward for it. His smile was very sweet in her eyes, though it still looked a bit sad.

"So, do you also have a connection to Rune Factory?" Gray asked Claire.

"Yeah. It's a very deep connection. You know, I ..."

Claire's statement was interrupted by a hard bang on the table. Nobody would expect it was Dirk with a big smile on his lips that sent a big blow to the poor table. "Okay, that's enough! Now your curiosity is fulfilled, it's time to say goodbye, Gray!" Dirk exclaimed. He grabbed his niece's hand and walked out of the cafe. While Dirk pulled her arbitrarily, Claire turned to look back at Gray's face.

Gray did not stop them. He was only sitting still with his eyes slightly widened in surprise because of Dirk's sudden action.

"We can't just leave him alone!" Claire tried to stop Dirk by pulling back.

"It's better for him," said Dirk coldly, ignoring Claire's objection.

"We haven't told him the most important thing ..."

"Let him be. He doesn't need to know," Dirk refused to listen to her.

"How could you say that, Uncle? He needs to know..." this time Claire pleaded with all her might, but Dirk decided not to stop. He kept walking, ignoring his niece's pleading. Frustrated, Claire eventually forced her hand from her uncle's.

"He must know that he will disappear, just like me, when I arrived to Zephyr!" Claire cried hysterically. She blew up. Rising up against her uncle seemed to drain more courage and energy than she could imagine. She was breathless.

Dirk sighed, trying to keep his calmness upon Claire's emotions.

"And then? What if he knows? Are you going to stop and cancel your mission?" Dirk asked with a sharp gaze right on his eyes. The gaze and the question were hurting her heart. She was so hurt that she could only turn her face down.

"No..." she replied weakly.

In contrast to his sharp gaze, Dirk's heart was not as sharp. He was skeptical about many things. He just tried to stay strong and focus on their mission...

Dirk bent down slightly, aligning his eyes at the same level with his niece and said softly, "Claire. You know that I love you, don't you?"

Claire nodded.

"I know. You don't want me to do this, but we have to do it. I have to give back the blood that I've borrowed from the Blue Dragon of the Rune Factory..." Claire repeated what she had said when she was told by Konohana's major about the mission.

Dirk smiled. A very faint smile, actually, because the smile seemed very sad.

"And then, everything will be on the right place, just like it has to be... me, and all things associated with the Rune Factory are going to disappear..." she continued.

Dirk tried to raise a smile, but he couldn't afford it. Only some words came out of his mouth after that... "I'm sorry, Claire..."

,

,

~ 000 ~

,

Gray could not believe what he had heard. He intended to chase after them, even though he himself didn't know why exactly he did it. But...

 _I'm going to disappear?_

 _Claire will disappear?_

 _What kind of mission is she bearing?_

 _Borrowed… blood?_

 _Aaah... I don't understand any single word they said..._

 _But..._

 _Disappear?_

 _It means… just like those monsters...?_

 _Just like my mother?_

Gray's head felt hot because he couldn't guess or speculate about anything. But his confusion didn't last long. A scream from the distance made Gray, Dirk, and Claire activate their alert mode. They were reflexively running towards the source of that scream. Sure enough, once again the monsters appeared. This time the monster was in human form, with two hands and two legs, just like the one Gray defeated in Forget-Me-Not Valley. But this one had a stout-body and was holding an axe as a weapon. The monster cornered two kids in front of him.

Dirk's huge hammer popped up and he attacked the monster without wasting a second. Even though the monster seemed to be strong, Dirk's hammer broke it easily. Soon, its body was dissolving into turquoise lights that flew to the sky.

"What are you doing here? I thought everyone had already evacuated to the west?" Dirk asked with an unfriendly tone that caused the two children to become frightened and cry.

Claire tried to calm the kids, and finally one of them told her what happened. Both of them were siblings, and they used to live in this area. Their mother was sick and they wanted to take the remaining medicines which was left in their house.

"You cannot do that without telling adults. Haven't they told you that monsters may attack you anytime, anywhere?" Dirk scolded them.

The brother wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and said innocently, "but aren't there guards on patrol?"

Dirk laughed cynically. His talkative and motherly habits tended to show up when he was with children. "Listen, even in this town, we don't have enough guards to protect every corner. If I hadn't happened to be here, you'd both be dead meats. What do you think your sick mother would say if she lost her two lights?"

Claire chuckled from hearing her uncle's scolding and lecture. Dirk was getting angry easily; he liked preaching to people, and had a high sense of justice. She remembered the time when she was a lot younger. Her uncle indeed scolded her a lot. For Claire, who was growing up without parents, Dirk was a father, mother, and brother at the same time. All this time, that beloved uncle of hers was always thinking about her happiness. She was very thankful for that. So it was her turn to think about his happiness. For the sake of all the living beings in this world, Claire had to complete an important mission. Even if it meant she had to sacrifice her own life.

"Uncle, you have to stay here. This town needs you," Claire said, smiling. She looked at Gray who had silently witnessed the incident. "I'll go with Gray," she said without a single doubt.

Gray was still motionless because of the shocking conversation he had just heard. She didn't know that he had overheard her conversation. But following his instincts, Gray planned to continue his journey with Claire. No matter what kind of mission she was bearing.

"It's okay. I'll take her to Zephyr safely," Gray guaranteed with his usual flat face. It had never been easy for Dirk to let go of Claire, either this time or the very first time they started the mission. Back then he could hold himself because he couldn't disobey the orders from Sheng and the elders. But this time he had to hand over his beloved niece to someone he barely knew. He couldn't help but wonder if everything was really a fate from the Harvest Goddess.

Actually, Dirk wanted to go to Zephyr so bad. Aside from accompanying Claire, it was his hometown. Yes, his hometown. But just like what Reina had said, he was bearing a mission from Sheng to 'reduce the number of casualties as much as possible until the crack between the two worlds could be closed'. As a resident of the only village blessed with magic, and the one who was blessed with magic abilities, it was his duty to protect the common folks. Maybe that was why Sheng told him and Reina to completely hand over the closing gate mission to Claire...

After thinking carefully, Dirk finally approved Claire's request reluctantly.

"Take care of her," Dirk messaged when they were going to separate. "And when the time comes... I beg you not to hamper whatever she's going to conduct," Dirk said in a bit of a threatening tone. Gray just responded with a slight nod, pretending not to know about their mission.

"Please do not worry, Sir. I've been to Zephyr before," Gray tried to gain his trust.

"See? I'll be fine. Gray's a nice person!" Claire was still trying to convince her uncle. Dirk smiled, and then turned back his gaze on Gray with his threatening eyes.

"You men and women traveling alone, but don't you ever think to do anything funny to her," Dirk sent a death glare to Gray.

"U, Uncle!" Claire protested with her cheeks flushed. His uncle was always over protective of her, and sometimes it was just too much.

Gray snorted.

"I can't guarantee it. Nobody could handle what's down there," Gray said something ambiguous and a bit vulgar. It made the uncle-niece pair lose their composure. Especially Dirk, his face was red with embarrassment and anger.

"You! Filthy hunter..."

"Come on," Gray cut Dirk anger and walked towards his horse which was tied up in front of a house. Gray looked at Dirk who was saying his farewell to his niece with a hug. But instead of saying 'see you again', they said 'goodbye'.

~ 000 ~

Gray was riding the brown horse through the autumn winds along the path of the Flower Bud Forest. He decided not to enter Castanet and took a long way route through the forest path instead. Although normally passing through a town was better, Gray worried the situation there would be the same as in Flower Bud. After a long ride for hours, Gray felt Claire's hold on his waist were weakening. He halted the horse and looked at Claire who looked sleepy.

"Let's rest and grab something to eat?" Gray offered. Claire nodded.

As they were in the forest far away from residential area, hunting was the only option if they wanted to eat meat. Fortunately, they had bought food supplies from Flower Bud. At least they had breads, cheese, and jerked meat.

They made a fire to warm themselves. Claire was waiting by the fire while Gray went to the river to fill their water supply. Gray arrived shortly thereafter.

"Wow, you caught some fish!" Claire exclaimed when she saw Gray carrying four medium sized fish, enough for both of them.

"Better than bread, right?" said Gray proudly.

Claire took the fish and began to stick thin woods through its mouth. She embedded the stick on the ground, positioning it so that the fish would be cooked without being too burnt.

Gray and Claire sat by the fire while waiting their dinner. The night was very quiet and cold. The silence was shattered when Claire called out Gray's name. He was sitting on the opposite side from Claire.

"Gray,"

"Hm?"

"You can ask anything, I'll answer it now," Claire said. She was hugging her knees and covering her whole body in a brown blanket. Gray could only see a half of her face.

Gray looked up at her, trying to read her expression. It was a guilty face. And Gray could guess the reason she made such an expression: because her mission –whatever it was, would sacrifice not only her life, but also Gray's life.

"The knife you gave to me... is it yours?" Gray asked. Claire was surprised by the ordinary question which had absolutely nothing to do with the monsters or herself.

Claire smiled slightly, "it belonged to my late father."

Gray nodded. That's all. Claire was waiting for him to speak, but he didn't even talk. Feeling restless, she finally popped up her head out of the blanket and staring at his eyes in a jittery manner.

"Will you listen to my story?" Claire asked. Gray raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He did not intend to interrogate her, but apparently it was she herself who wanted to tell everything.

"Are you sure?" Gray asked.

Claire scowled at him, "because you're not going to ask!"

Gray was a little surprised to see Claire's sulking. So far he had only seen her cheerful and sad face.

It was kinda cute and made him draw a smile on his lips.

"Just tell me. I'll listen," Gray said, still smiling. The smile somehow made her face get warmer.

"There's something different about you," Claire pointed out.

"Ha?"

"You smile a lot. This afternoon you even threw a joke to my uncle. Moreover, it was a vulgar one," said Claire, making Gray's face a little flushed.

Gray realized it. Unintentionally, he started to do things he had never done since Cliff's death. Somehow it felt natural to be with Claire. He didn't know why, but he felt comfortable with her.

"Is there any reason? I'm not a statue. I can smile, too," Gray tried to elude. Claire smiled. She looked up at the stars scattered on the sky and retold the stories her uncle once told her: about herself, the Rune Factory, and the battle of Zephyr and Castanet.

~ 000 ~

,

,

(to be continued…)

.

A/N:

Heyaa! Thank you for the review, Fre! And as always, thank you for your help, Mnemah-san! xD

Yep, the romance's pace in this story is kinda slow… I think I was influenced by Ghibli's stories, where the romance just flows slowly like that, and unknowingly, they're already acting like they're in love with each other. Thought my other stories are mostly focused on romance, this HALRRH is focused on its fantasy-adventure. Maybe, later, if I've finished this, I'll publish my other romantic HM fanfic in English.

Okaay, see you later! Thanks for reading~


	9. Another way

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **~ 9 ~**

" **Another Way"**

.

.

 _-Zephyr, 17 years ago-_

Zephyr was the green emerald town in the hilly area at the northwest side of the Harvest Moon mainland continent. The town used wind power as its primary energy source. Large windmills were standing firmly between the green hills which were cleaved by creeks. The town had everything that a town needed: it was located near the sea at a strategic position, beautiful and within the reach of nature, as well as having well-funded science and education. Within a few decades, Zephyr had grown into an important world trading center with enormous financial strength. Unfortunately, this also made the competition with their neighboring country, Castanet, get worse. The tension between the two neighboring countries kept rising up. Beyond their green and beautiful nature, the two sides were preparing themselves for the worst. The cold war for years finally broke into armed warfare.

In the midst of this precarious situation, in a house in Zephyr, a girl named Claire was born. Ivan, her father, was holding her with happiness filling his heart. He thanked his wife, Freya, and told her how wonderful she was. Beside him, Dirk, his fourteen-year-old brother, was smiling with them, looking at the newborn baby. But the family's happiness was shattered when they heard a sudden loud banging on their door. Dirk opened the door and was surprised to see a big man wearing military clothes with royal emblem on his chest. Dirk knew the man. He was one of the great generals in Zephyr, Rod.

"Call Ivan," he ordered. Dirk immediately ran to his brother and told him about Rod. Ivan laid his baby down beside Freya carefully and then went to meet Rod.

"The Mayor commands you to come with me to see him right away," Rod conveyed the order abruptly.

"Now? But my wife has just given birth... why so suddenly?" Ivan asked, trying to refuse.

"Just come. You know he won't like it if you complain over his order," Rod forced with a threatening tone. Ivan sighed resignedly and then went back into his room to say goodbye to his family. Dirk, who had a bad feeling, asked his brother to take him along as an assistant.

Rod had brought a cart for them, so they just tagged along without prepared anything. Once they arrived, the Mayor told him to sit in his guest room. He asked his maid to serve them high-quality cookies and brewed tea. After that, the maid closed the door. The only souls in that room were Ivan, Dirk, the Mayor, and Rod.

"Sorry, but I guess I'll have to ask your little brother to leave us alone?" The Mayor showed the door with his gesture.

Dirk was about to go when Ivan halted him, "it's okay. This little guy is my trusty assistant. He knew everything about our project."

Ivan lied. Dirk knew nothing and though he always helped Ivan in the laboratory, Ivan never involved him in political-related things. Yet Dirk followed up the lie with a confident nod to reassure the Mayor.

"Well, that's okay then, I suppose," the Mayor then rested his back on his sofa. "So, how's it going? Have you finished deciphering those Rune Factory ancient manuscripts?"

Ivan replied that he had understood almost all the ancient manuscripts which had been found on some large rock in the old ruins of the city. He had spent more than two years deciphering them. The project to find all of the manuscripts took almost a year itself. The project had gone for three years in total.

"Speed up the process. Zephyr requires that knowledge to bring down Castanet," said the Mayor.

"What do you mean?" asked Ivan, who had no idea why the project was related to Castanet. He had only worked on the study because of sheer curiosity. Looking at his naiveté, the Mayor laughed loudly.

"The latest data you gave to me, it said something about a ritual to summon the Rune Factory's Blue Dragon, doesn't t it? Zephyr needs the Rune Factory's strength to beat that damn Castanet. No, not just Castanet... with that power, we can overpower the entire Harvest Moon World! Even the Harvest Goddess won't be able to stop us! Hahaha! "

Ivan and Dirk could only hold back their emotions after hearing such a terrible confession from their Mayor. They couldn't talk back nor leave the room before they were allowed to. With raging feelings –which they tried to cover–they left The Mayor's Manor. Ivan directly went to see Claire's face and kissed her on her forehead to calm his heart. His family had always been his strength and his only reason to keep working as the head of royal scientists. So much pressure he had received there. There were times when he had to ignore his heart and made dangerous plans, weapons, or poison for the sake of war.

In the evening, Ivan went to his study chamber and re-read his personal research note. Actually he had deciphered the entire manuscript and he could perform the ritual to summon the Blue Dragon anytime.

"But this is wrong..." he muttered to himself. He immediately closed his notebook when someone opened the door. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed it was just Dirk who entered while holding a cup of cappuccino.

"Ivan," Dirk opened their talks as he sat on the chair next to Ivan. "I think you shouldn't fulfill the Mayor's order. I get a bad feeling about this," he let out exactly how he felt.

Ivan looked at his little brother's serious face and nodded. Though nobody would believe it, he always thought that his brother had a kind of special power. Dirk's premonitions were always right. And there was a time when suddenly the winds became uncontrollable around Dirk when he was in rage.

Ivan turned his chair and stared at his brother's golden eyes. "Actually, I've completed the entire manuscripts, Dirk."

"Really? What is it about?"

"It's about a sacred ritual to summon the Rune Factory's God, the Blue Dragon. Just like the myth we have about the Harvest Goddess summoning, the Blue Dragon could fulfill the wishes of humans. The difference from our goddess is… the Blue Dragon will grant any kind of wish. There's only one wish for one summoning ritual. And as I said, _any wish_."

Dirk gulped. He could understand why his brother tried to hide this from the Mayor, not to mention the Mayor's ill intentions.

"But as the compensation," said Ivan, "it takes human blood as summoning condition. It requires a pure human soul to be a death sacrifice."

Ivan inhaled a deep breath, and then put his hands on Dirk's small shoulder.

"You know what I mean?"

Dirk nodded, "rituals that sacrifice humans or living beings are generally intended for evil deeds..."

"Exactly. Because of that, this knowledge should not fall to someone like our mayor… no. It shouldn't fall to any soul in this world," Ivan closed his message.

~ 000 ~

Gray took the grilled fish and put it a little further from the fire to prevent overheating.

"So? What happened after that?" Gray asked.

Claire was hugging her knees, directing her gaze to the big fish eye.

"They stole my father's notebook, and killed me..."

Gray's eyes widened as he heard her statement, "killed... you?"

Claire closed her eyes, and then continued the tragic part of her story...

,

,

,

Ivan's eyes widened to their full capacity, though it only last for a second. He couldn't hold his eyes any longer as the pain and tears bursting out of him. He was petrified at the sight of Rod who threw his little baby's dead body onto the ancient altar in the ruin. He was dragged here by force, along with Dirk.

"Claire... it can't be... Claire!" Ivan cried hysterically as he tried to reach the baby. But he couldn't. His arms were held tightly by the Mayor's bodyguard. His breath became even more uncontrollable when he remembered his wife who was supposed to be with Claire.

"Freya! What happened to Freya ?!" asked Ivan in panic, aimlessly. Looking at the usual composed and intellectual Ivan losing his common sense, Rod smiled sarcastically.

"I don't know. She's not dead… yet, I guess,"

Ivan felt like his heart was being hit with a sledgehammer. He couldn't think about what to do. His body was limp instantly. Dirk, who was still a teenager, couldn't even react. He was petrified, watching his first niece bloodied corpse just laying still. The blood was still flowing from her body. It was so terrible that Dirk's body started to tremble.

"If you don't want Rod to slay your brother's belly, you have to perform the ritual right away!" the Mayor ordered.

Ivan looked at Dirk with his teary eyes. Dirk's eyes looked empty in shock. Obviously, it was too heavy of a scene for a boy in his age.

After a very long pause, Ivan finally agreed to perform the ritual, "….alright. I'm going to do as it. But release Dirk first. I'll need him to help me," said Ivan.

Woken up from his shock, Dirk immediately tried to detach himself from another Mayor's bodyguard. "You can't Ivan! Are you crazy?!" Dirk shouted.

The Mayor let out a wicked laugh, "Maybe your brother really is crazy. After he lost his wife and his baby... how could he stay sane? Hahaha!"

Dirk clenched his hands and teeth, fed up. He didn't know what to do. The helpless feeling filled up his lungs and tightened his chest. The only thing he could do was following his brother's direction to paint a big circle with Claire's blood. That was indeed a heartbreaking scene–for someone in his age, using his beloved niece's blood to perform a ritual which went completely against his morals.

The Mayor had prepared everything needed for the ritual. He and his subordinates actually intended to perform the ritual by themselves, but they couldn't read the spells that were written in ancient letters. Ivan and Dirk were the only people with knowledge to read those letters.

Roughly, Rod put Claire's body on the center of that circle.

Ivan opened his notebook, and then read the spells. Dirk who was standing behind him felt the ground around them shaking for about one minute. After that, from that circle, a huge blue dragon appeared. He was floating right above the circle. He had a long body just like a legged-snake and his big and thick scales were shining in turquoise light-color. Dirk's eyes got hurt for seeing the light. It was beautiful, indeed, but too beautiful to the point that his body were trembling in fear.

The dragon then asked their request.

"Those who calling us, tell us your one wish."

When the Mayor opened his mouth to say that he wanted to borrow Rune Factory's strength for the sake of winning the war, Ivan immediately silence him.

"SHUT UP!" Ivan shouted. "My wish is... can you heal my daughter?" Ivan asked tearfully.

The Dragon looked at the baby for a while, and said, "She was dead. And her blood had been used as an offering to summon us. We can't give it back. But we may lend her our blood ..."

"Please do!" Ivan exclaimed spontaneous. Mayor, Rod, and other officials were surprised to hear the sudden change of plan. They stood up and cursed him.

"Ivan! Are you nuts?! That's not what we paid you for! Cancel your request!" ordered the Mayor, followed by protests from his subordinates.

"Just shut your mouth up, you bastard! If we let Zephyr and the Rune Factory unite, then the whole world will be destroyed!" Ivan shouted furiously.

Disputes between people who had called him apparently made the Blue Dragon get impatient.

"So, what do you want?" asked the dragon once again.

"Revive Claire! Please!" Dirk cried with all his might.

"You! Shitty Boy!" one of the bodyguard who was standing close to Dirk, kicked him directly. The kicked was too strong for his tiny body, so that he was flying and landed near his niece's dead body, just below the dragon.

But Dirk's request was taken by the Blue Dragon as their fixed request. The Dragon was immediately pressed his muzzle onto Claire's forehead, and the bright light was emanating from there.

Then, an earthquake, a much bigger one than before, happened in the ancient ruins. No, not just in the ruins, actually. It happened to the entire town of Zephyr. Ivan spontaneously jumped towards Dirk and Claire, holding them in his arms.

When the earthquake had stopped, Dirk opened his eyes, and found Ivan on the top of him, embracing him and Claire.

Ivan's head was covered in fresh blood. Both his head and back were pressed by a heavy large stone that fell from the ceiling. His breathing was very heavy. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that his brother's life wouldn't last for any longer.

"Dirk... Take care of Claire. While you yourself are still a kid, your big brother only knows how to get you into trouble, huh... I'm sorry, Dirk..." Ivan said it using all the strength left in him.

Dirk knew how hard it was for him just to keep breathing. Ivan's body was not strong at all because he spent most of his time reading books, but he held the big stone on his shoulder. Even his thin arms holding them were trembling…

He might leave Dirk… in no time.

"No… You can't die! Ivaan!" Dirk cried tearfully.

"Go away. I can't take it any longer. You can get out through the exit slit... go..." said Ivan, smiling.

"Ivan... I don't want to..."

"Please, Dirk. You're the only one… I can count on now, my brother..."

Dirk could only hold back his tears. He knew it was the only way out. He and the-now-breathing Claire were small enough to escape, but not his older brother. Dirk bit his lower lip strongly to gather all his courage, and then took the baby away with him.

When he finally managed to escape, another big earthquake occurred. At that time, crying was the only thing he could do. Surely, his brother died along with those wicked politicians, buried inside the ruins.

Holding the baby Claire in his arms, he took his first step and left Zephyr. It would be bad if someone from the government found him and forced him to do the ritual. He decided to forget everything and went to a distance place –far, far away to the west.

Little Dirk struggled to survive together with Claire, and finally they arrived in Konohana: a small, peaceful village, isolated from the bustle of politics. Its remote location was the reason that magic still existed here, as it was protected by the wise hands. Here, Dirk found out about his magic talent and met his best friends, Kana and Hiro. Claire grew up in that village, all the villagers became her family.

When she was 17 years old, the imbalance of the two worlds increased. For the first time, a permanent crack appeared at the peak of Konohana's mountain. A beast with great magical powers made an uproar in the calm village. Actually, this imbalance had been happening for a long time, but it used to be a small hint and nobody ever found any strong evidence about the dimension's crack. When the elders held a plenary to discuss the incident, Dirk finally revealed the story about the Blue Dragon summoning ritual.

Sheng, one of the elders of Konohana immediately contacted Oracle so that she could talk about it to the Harvest Goddess. However, it seemed that the Harvest Goddess wasn't able to do much.

"The Blue Dragon is different from me. He was such an old-fashioned and stiff old man. I managed to talk to him, though. If you want to cut the connection between Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, he said you should return everything that came from Rune Factory," said Harvest Goddess to Oracle.

"Everything?" Oracle raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, including the blood in Claire's body. You know that her blood is not just ordinary blood, right?"

"I know. But does that mean... she'll have to die?" asked Oracle with fear in her face.

"It's not only her. But every living or non-living thing which is associated with Rune Factory in this world will have to disappear. This way there would be no more disturbances between the two worlds. In other words, we have to sacrifice Claire."

"Is there really no other way aside from sacrifice?"

Looking at her friend's troubled expression, the Harvest Goddess smiled, trying to reassure her.

"We're just going to restore everything back to how it should be, Oracle," she said.

"You are right."

"For the good of the child, you should let her go to Zephyr accompanied by the strongest woman in your village," added the Harvest Goddess.

"Only a woman?"

Harvest Goddess smiled gently, "Even if you refuse to do that, the wheels of destiny are going to keep running, Oracle."

~ 000 ~

,

,

The fish that were caught by Gray had turned into bones. He just heard an unbelievable story, but he knew that it was true. Claire's eyes that were staring at him from behind the fire somehow felt cold.

"I'm sorry, Gray," said Claire, followed by teardrops coming out from the corner of her eyes. "I'm sorry..." she sobbed.

Gray didn't react immediately, he just looked at her crying in silence. He was bad at this kind of thing. He was not used to consoling someone. But seeing her crying like that…

"Why sorry?" he asked.

Claire hugged her knees again, hiding her crying face, "because… my existence… caused all these disasters happened... and I... might… make you disappear..." she replied haltingly.

 _Disappear_. Somehow Gray didn't really care about that word. Even though he would disappear, he didn't think there would be any difference to the world around him. He lived without being tied to anyone–except his father and Cliff–but Claire was different. She had a lot of people who loved her in Konohana, and of course her uncle.

"About disappearing... I don't really care," said Gray. He looked straight at Claire's eyes at the other side of the fire. "And also... if it was not because of the dimensional crack, I would have never been here. My mother couldn't have crossed into this world and I would have never been born."

Claire was still trying to stop her tears when Gray continued his talk.

"Maybe it sounded like I don't give a damn about the world, but I guess I have to thank you and your father? I can live, see the world, and find a very good friend... I think it's good enough. Haha, I'm talking like Cliff," Gray said. These were the longest and the sweetest words Gray had ever said since they had first met. Claire wiped her tears and smiled. Just like Gray, this life of hers had given her so many wonderful memories, and she should be grateful about that.

"You're right. I also have to thank my father. Although I have to give my life back in the end, but if I died at that time, I wouldn't be able to meet you, Gray!" Claire was laughing while her eyes still glimmered in tears. Hearing her laughs made Gray's lips form a gentle smile.

After the long story, Claire was lying with a blanket wrapped her body. Her eyes were still wide open. She couldn't sleep.

"Gray..."

"Hm?" Gray replied shortly. He was lying down at the opposite side of the fire.

"After hearing that you're going to disappear, aren't you scared?" asked Claire.

Gray thought for a moment.

"I don't know. I don't want to think about it," said Gray honestly.

Claire raised her right hand up to the sky, and tried to catch the distance stars with her fingers.

"You're amazing. I'm always thinking about it. If I disappear, what will happen to me? How about my memory? Am I going to dissolve just like those monsters, alive? Does it hurt? And suddenly I feel so scared. You know, when I think the magic couldn't even track my whereabouts, I'm so afraid and am not sure about my own existence... It's as if… I'm disappearing…"

Gray was waiting for her to continue, but she just left her melancholy talk hanging. He heaved a sigh.

"Aren't you being too negative? Since you're talking with me right now, of course you're alive and exist here," Gray said. He started to feel very sleepy, and he began to feel that Claire was talking too much. After that Claire didn't say anything, but Gray believed that Claire hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"Are you sleeping?" Gray asked.

"Not yet..."

"Sigh..." Gray lifted his sleeping bag and moved close to Claire, making the girl wonder in confusion. She was getting even more confused when Gray laid beside her and wrapped her cold right hand in his palm.

"Warm?" he asked quickly, without any expression showing on his face.

"Ye, yes ..."

"It means that you're alive and existed here. Just sleep, I'm tired," Gray said with a slight tinge of annoyance.

"So-sorry..." Claire tried to pull her hand off of Gray, but he didn't allow it. He grabbed it even tighter.

"G-Graay…?" the helpless Claire started to feel super nervous, but Gray seemed like he was in a deep sleep already.

She felt that her right hand was becoming warm. No, not only her hand. The warmth was creeping into her heart and made her heart start pounding like crazy. Claire looked at Gray's sleeping face. She never got this close to a man at her age, nor did she ever feel her heart beating like this. But she didn't hate this feeling. Rather, she felt more comfortable. A disturbing feeling, but she liked it. Claire thought that she didn't need to define this feeling. Yeah. Because she knew that soon, she and her feelings would have to disappear.

~ 000 ~

It was still dawn when they set out to another long horseback ride. The brown horse looked refreshed after an overnight break, just like Gray and Claire. As usual Claire hitched a ride behind Gray and held on to his waist hesitantly. The dawn had broken when they finally took in the sight of the Castanet Palace. As they had planned, they just passed through suburban areas of Castanet and had not entered the city in order to avoid any unwanted encounters with monsters. At noon, they were passing through mountains around the Castanet territory.

"Hold on tightly, Claire," Gray said as he was about to jump over a rocky area. Claire tightened her grip on Gray's waist, but still her body was nearly jumped off of the horse's back. They continued riding at high speed and only stopped when the horse looked exhausted at midday. Lucky they found a spring with a lot of grass around there.

While letting their horse to graze and rest, Gray was taking a nap and Claire was soaking her feet in the cool spring water. Claire's attention was attracted by bubbles which appeared from the middle of the spring. Suddenly, it was as if the wind around her stopped blowing. No, not just an 'as if'. The wind actually stopped blowing, as the falling leaves hung on the air, motionless. Gray and the brown horse, too, they stopped moving altogether. Time had stopped.

"Hi, Claire!" a cheery greeting from the spring made Claire immediately shift her gaze from Gray to the spring. Her eyes widened as she saw the unbelievable sight in front of her. There was a long, green-haired women floated above the surface of the spring. She had no legs. Her legs were replaced with a green scaly fish tail. Apart from all the abnormalities, Claire admitted that she was very beautiful. And although it was the first time Claire had saw her, Claire swore that the woman looked exactly as the description she always heard from the myth...

"Harvest... Goddess?" Claire finally managed to say something.

"Yep, I'm the Harvest Goddess!" the woman confirmed her identity. Aware that Claire began to step back, the Harvest Goddess immediately told her to stay and not be afraid.

"I just want to see you before you get to Zephyr… and thank you for your willingness to resolve this matter," said the Harvest Goddess. She swam closer to Claire, then looked closely at her face.

"Prepare yourself. After this, your journey won't be easy... Zephyr is filled by negative auras. They're still trying to put themselves above anything else..." warned the Harvest Goddess. Claire blinked, trying to keep her eyes on the Harvest Goddess, but failed. The Harvest Goddess was too beautiful; too dazzling that Claire could only land her eyes on the rippled water.

"Uhm… If I die before I offer my blood to the Blue Dragon, what will happen?" Claire asked. The Harvest Goddess put her index finger on her chin, posed as if she was thinking hard.

"Hm... I think things will remain as today. The new gates may stop appearing, but the opened gates would continue to let the monsters enter our world. If that happens, it's just about time that mankind would be wiped out from the world," replied the Harvest Goddess.

Claire was stupefied. She once suggested that maybe she could just killed herself somewhere, but the elders stopped her. They said they didn't know what consequences might occur because of that stupid decision. So the elders were right. She had to stay alive… and make sure that she gave her blood back to the Blue Dragon.

"Hey, have you ever thought that there's another way to save yourself and that boy?" asked the Harvest Goddess. Claire frowned and shook her head.

"There's no other way, is there?"

"Indeed, no."

Claire frowned to hear the Goddess' indifferent response. She thought for a moment.

"Hmm... Harvest Goddess, I heard from Oracle that you can talk to the Blue Dragon of Rune Factory?"

"Yes, I can. Something's on your mind?"

Claire took a glance at Gray, and then expressed her wish, "can you talk to him once again and convey this plea of mine to him?"

The Harvest Goddess was aware of her feeling. She smiled and guessed her plea, "you don't want the Blue Dragon to take that mixed-blood-boy's soul, do you?"

Claire smiled. She moved closer to the Harvest Goddess and whispered to the Harvest Goddess.

After that, the Harvest Goddess swam back into the spring, and the time that had stopped was moving back. Claire looked at Gray's peaceful sleeping face. That warm hand of his had saved her life and her heart several times. She wanted him to keep living and smiling forever. She wished that he would get a better life, even though his best friend was no longer there… and Claire wouldn't be there to see that smile.

"Gray, I think I love you..." Claire whispered softly, with a warm smile curved on her lips.

~ 000 ~

,

,

(To be continued)

N/A:

Thank you for reading my fanfic! And thanks for your review at the previous chapter, Mnemah-san and Fre! As always, I want to thank Mnemah-san for helping me fixed my mistakes so you can read this story in a lot better form :)

Oops, Fre, I'm sorry I use the wrong word for it. I mean I'm going to finish this story, of course xD

There's still three chapter ahead, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well...


	10. The Alliance

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 10 ~**

 **"The Alliance"**

 **.**

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-Konohana-

Night in Konohana always enlivened by the choir of the cicadas' wings, the vibration of frogs' saccus vocals, and the rustling leaves. However, there was something different tonight. Those daily peaceful melodies were disturbed by the sounds of marching horses which went out through the village's gate.

Ten stout horses were carrying the well trained magicians of Konohana on their backs. They were sent in order to help the defence in various regions of Harvest Moon. Sheng, the elder and the highest leader of magic in Konohana, had just got an important guest. The guest was an officer of Natsume Alliance, or so-called international police, an independent organization that held the highest control in securing the world. They were tracking down the international fugitive, resolving conflicts between regions, and controlling magic regulation. The latter job was a top secret activity which was known only by the high-rank officers of Natsume Alliance. They tracked down humans with magic talent and sent them to Konohana for the purpose of study. That way, those with special talents wouldn't end up as criminals or being isolated by communities.

Tonight, a high-rank officer had an important meeting with Sheng in his traditional-style house. They were sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, facing each other with the _irori –a traditional sunken hearth,_ between them.

"On behalf of Natsume Alliance, I would like to thank and appreciate Konohana's help to the world, Mr Sheng," said the officer named Van. He had a big body and big stomach, wearing a blue suit with a lot of attributes that signified his rank.

Sheng sipped his tea and twist the ends of his bushy white mustache. Without a smile, he replied, "Maintaining the stability of the world had always been our duty. I just hope that the Alliance wouldn't get in the way of our movement."

Sheng's words invited a small laugh from Van, "How could we get in your way when you're trying to save the world?"

Sheng laughed along with his sarcastic tone, "Well! I don't know. It's just... don't you think that the knowledge about a dragon who can grant any wish makes you want to monopolize it… for yourself?"

This indirect accusation got Van suddenly quiet. Van changed his position slightly, and then smiled. "And what is it about?"

 _There he goes._

Sheng knew that Van surely would elude his suspicions. Actually, Ina recently arrested a woman who turned out to be a spy working under Van. By using a certain magic, Ina made her spilled the whole truth. She had stolen the information about Claire and Dirk –which was known only by the elders and some certain people.

"Hmf. Just because our strengths are dispersed now, don't expect to find an opening. Now go away, this old man has been very sleepy," said Sheng, closing their meeting. Van stood up and walked out of the house with a disgraceful look on his face. A carriage had been waiting for him, and he let his people open the door for him as he sat on his luxurious seat.

"Rudolf!" Van called for one of his subordinates. The man came to him and stood firmly by the carriage door.

"Yes sir?"

"Send a message to Skye in Zephyr to speed up the search of the manuscript. I don't want those damn witches to use black magic to kill me," commanded Van. Rudolf nodded his head in understanding and immediately went to get a messenger.

After the subordinate was gone, he went back to his thought and grumbled to himself, "Why are those witches acting so high and almighty? If only I could get one of them on my side..."

~ 000 ~

-Zephyr-

Gray and Claire finally arrived at Zephyr after riding for two days and two nights. Before they entered the city, Gray reminded Claire to be careful, given the strange rumours they heard from another town.

According to Gray –who had been here before, Zephyr didn't have a city gate or even a clear border, due to the absence of a ruler for years. Castanet didn't show any concern for Zephyr's fate after its defeat in the war. The Castanet government stated that Zephyr was the one who attacked them first, and Castanet was just defending their territory. They never intended to take control of Zephyr or colonize their resources. Moreover, the war was not the only thing that brought that city to its downfall. A big earthquake was said to be the biggest cause of Zephyr's downfall. In the end, Zephyr, who had lost its power, was abandoned.

"If I relate it to your story, Zephyr was like a man who tried to fight a giant wall and used every possible way to win, but failed. In the end, they were destroyed because of their own greediness..." said Gray.

Claire looked at the buildings as they pass through the deserted town with sad eyes. This place was her and Dirk's hometown, yet at the same time, a place where her father and mother were killed.

This time Gray was walking behind Claire, letting Claire lead the way with the memories she gained from Dirk. Before Claire left Konohana, Dirk had used magic to plant his memory of the streets of Zephyr so Claire would know the location of the ruins even without him tagging along.

Suddenly she was shocked by Gray's grip on her wrist. Gray pulled her out to hide in a small alley. About a minute later, some people dressed in black jumpsuit were passing by. One of them stood out because of the long silver hair. Claire thought that he was the leader because he was walking at the front.

Claire moved backward, but bumped onto Gray who was standing just behind her. Noticing that their distance was too close, she tried to move forward a little bit. Unfortunately, her shoes hit a pile of old logs and made a relatively loud noise. Claire could only wince when Gray looked at her angrily.

"Who's there?" asked the silver-haired man with a threatening tone. When he took a step to check the sound, a green flare was released into the sky from somewhere.

"Mr. Skye, they reappear!" said one of them. At first Skye, the silver haired man, didn't seem too concerned. But once the red flare rocketed from the same direction, he and his entourage immediately went following the sign.

Claire sighed in relief.

"That's Skye..." said Gray, more like talking to himself, actually.

"Skye? Do you know him?" asked Claire. Claire feels that Gray knew many people from different places; surely because he had traveled a lot around the world.

"He is an international police officer. Cliff and I once worked for him," explained Gray, followed by deep wrinkles on his forehead. "What's he doing in a place like this?"

Gray felt suspicious and wanted to follow him, but his head told him not to stick his nose in that man's business. Reflecting on his past mistakes, Gray was no longer willing to do any useless dangerous things. He held Claire's wrist and took her out of the dark alley.

"Forget them. We have our own mission," said Gray. Claire nodded and continued to walk, following the maps in her memory. Unfortunately, only a few steps, and an arrow landed near them. Skye had stayed there with a long bow in his hand.

"Who are you?" Skye asked.

"Hunter. I heard interesting rumors about this place. I can't believe I met an international police officer here. Moreover, a high rank one from headquarters," Gray said with a straight face and without any doubt.

Skye narrowed his eyes, "I see that you know me."

"I worked for you before, Mr. Skye," said Gray, trying to escape from Skye's intimidating eyes without any further conflict.

Skye looked at Gray from head to toe, "I don't remember you," he said.

"I'm not that important for you to remember, Mr. Skye. Now, excuse me," Gray said while nodding his head, ending their meeting as soon as possible.

"Wait a minute. That girl, I'm taking her from you."

.

.

"Ha?"

"Aren't you Claire, the blonde with blue-eyes, who was sent here to close the gate of Rune Factory?" pointed Skye with his silver, cold eyes piercing her.

Gray immediately drew his sword and positioned himself in front of Claire. His sharp gaze tried to overpower Skye's cold eyes. "And what does Natsume Alliance have to do with a nonsense folk tale?"

Skye smiled, admiring Gray's alertness, "I myself don't understand. Lately the world became so absurd," he said. He turned when he heard screams from a distance. Maybe something bad happened to his subordinates.

"One thing, though. I know that it's not something The Alliance can overcome," Skye said, still smiling. Since the very first time Gray knew this person, Skye was always smiling. A sweet yet scary smile because you would never knew what was hiding behind that smile.

"If you're looking for the ruins of the ritual from seventeen years ago, just keep walking down the street to a large windmill at the northwest. Solve this problem immediately, Gray," Skye said unexpectedly. Without wasting any moment, Skye ran to his subordinates. Claire and Gray stood still on their place, until Gray broke the silence by a question.

"A large windmill? Is that true?" Gray asked.

Claire nodded.

"Did he just tell us about the place? How surprising," Gray secretly felt relieved because he didn't have to fight Skye.

"And he remembers your name," added Claire. Gray nodded in agreement.

"I thought he was going to kill us," Gray said as he took a step forward, telling her to proceed with their journey.

"Why? You said he's an international police officer? Of course he's going to help us, right?" she asked innocently. Gray sighed. She didn't understand how the world was going on up there. If those international police desired it, they could even make an honorable man into a chicken thief. So many unrecorded manipulations occurred in Natsume Alliance. Why a great person like Skye joined them, for Gray that was a mystery.

Though they could see the large windmill from there, it was located so far at the distance. Gray began to regret for leaving his horse around the city border. As they continued their journey, Claire noticed that they hadn't met any living being there. Yes, not even a single rat.

A couple of minutes later, her eyes caught a glimpse of movement inside a small house through an open window. Automatically, they stopped their movement and stayed on guard. They could guess the only creature which lived in that abandoned house. And their prediction was right.

Gray was sure he had met a similar creature in Forget-Me-Not Valley before. The creature which was called a 'goblin' by Claire.

Noticing their presence, suddenly the goblin jumped out of the window. The goblin was wearing an old piece of a woman's dress carelessly. Gray didn't care about its ridiculous looks and just took off the goblin's head immediately.

"They're everywhere," said Gray as he sheathed his sword.

"That's why we have to hurry and shut the cracks," said Claire. Her eyes were following the lights floating into the sky.

"Come on," urged Gray while holding her hands. Whether he did it to accelerate their movement or to calm her mind, he made her feel comfortable. They continued their journey to the ruins that were located not too far away from a large windmill, hidden in the woods.

That place was a mess. According to Dirk's memories, the spot of ritual was mostly underground. So, on the surface the place simply looked like an abandoned historical megalith site surrounded by shrubs and wild vegetates. All those large and carved down stones showed how great the place has been thousands of years ago. Between the old stones, there were some new ones –surely they were made around Zephyr's age of glory. And though they were rather new, they were all covered in mosses and vines. Surely, seventeen years had taken their shine.

Digging into the map in her mind, she found a square hole framed by high quality teak woods. "That's the entrance," she said. Gray nodded and walked in front of her, leaded her walking down old wooden stairs in narrow tunnel, entering the underground site.

"Stay alert. We can't trust Skye that easily. This might be a trap," he warned the girl. She walked with her eyes kept looking downward, afraid of stepping on fragile woods. She bumped onto Gray's back when he suddenly stopped.

"Claire, prepare your heart," said Gray.

"Eh?"

Claire immediately understood what he meant when they reached the end of tunnel. It was supposed to be a large hall or such, as the ceiling was about ten feet way above. Most of its columns had crushed down and its marble ceiling panels had come off. The pieces buried the hall that it looked like a stone grave. And it really was a grave. She saw a human skeleton was struck between the rocks. It sent a chill on her skin, and she suddenly wanted to vomit. She was scared. Whose skeleton was it? What if it was the father's? But no, it was wearing woman clothes.

Gray knew her anxiety –he reached and grabbed her cold and trembling hands; holding it tightly in his warm palm.

"I don't think anyone has entered this place since the earthquake," Gray guessed after his eyes explored the ruins. "But there are traces that someone had moved these stones, here and there."

Claire followed his pointed finger, and noticed some place that were supposed to be covered in mosses were clean. "Maybe it was Skye?"

"I don't know. But I don't feel any human presence here. Guess it's safe to go further…"

He stopped as he noticed a curved line painted with dried blood. He almost missed it because the surrounding area was filled with ruins of marbles. He released his grip on Claire, and moved alone to get rid of some big rocks. After three stone were removed, his eyes widened. He stood still and saw Claire who was watching behind him.

She moved closer, urged to know what made Gray's eyes covered in shock –but Gray stopped her and covered her eyes with his hand.

"Don't look. Just step back. Let me clear this place first," Gray said flatly. But he was too late. He felt the warm water dripping on his hand. Claire held his arm and leaned her forehead over his left shoulder.

Inside that circle, her dead body once laid. And inside that circle, her father sacrificed himself to protect her and Dirk. So, surely, that skeleton was her father's…

"Claire..." Gray whispered as he put his hand on her back, shifted his position so that she was right in his arms. He hugged her hesitantly; as the way Claire holding on his waist during horse riding. He was always like this, careful but clumsy about showing his feelings. He was even careful when hugging Claire. But Claire replied and hugged him tightly, convincing him that it was okay to hug her tightly as well.

They hugged each other long enough, until Claire realized that he completely leaned his weight on her.

"Gray?" when she saw his face, she realized that Gray eyes were closed. And his body was limp. Once Claire took off her arms, he was about to fall.

"Gray! What's wrong?!"

A silhouette of a human behind a big rock behind Gray made her nerves tense up. It seemed like he or she had been here before them. Her heart beat faster, and she had no idea what to do. They were trapped.

~ 000 ~

(to be continued...)


	11. Crisis

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 11 ~**

 **"Crisis"**

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-Minerals Town-

The cloudy sky had covered Mineral Town's sky since a few days ago. As leaves had withered completely –brought down the brown which dominated autumn scenery; the first snow fell on the village. Even so, none of the people of this town welcomed it. Even Stu –a boy who usually ran to Rose Square and hailed for the snow, this time did not appear on the street.

Stu could only see this winter first snow from the church windows. May, his friend, was standing at his side while looking out of the window. Because of the emergency situation, these three days the Mineral Town population were centred in the Inn and the church.

"I want to play outside..." sighed May.

Stu blew out his breath onto the window, made a white circle of dew there, and then created an image of a snowman with his finger.

"You can't. There are many monsters outside," he disagreed.

May were bored and sat on the church windowsill, swinging her feet. "Maybe the adults lie? Before, when I was scared to sleep alone, my grandpa said that monsters are not existed…"

Her words turned her friend's switch on. Stu put both hands on his waist, imitated the pose of his sister when she scolded him.

"Monsters do exist! I heard it from a great hunter!" Stu exclaimed, a little bragging.

"Heeeh... what did he say?" May asked, as she leaned toward Stu.

Stu folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin, acting smart.

"He said... he knew a loner monster. When I asked him whether he could beat that monster or not, he said: _of course I can. Even now it looks like the monster is dead_ ,"

May frowned and puckered her lips, "what does that mean?"

Stu grinned. He also didn't know what it meant. Hunter named Gray didn't say a lot of things though Stu kept trying to pry information out of him all night. Only when he asked about the monster, the hunter opened his closed eyes slightly to answer his question.

~ 000 ~

Claire checked Gray's limp body. She touched his neck and could feel his pulse. She sighed in relieve now that Gray was alive. His body seemed alright since she couldn't find any injury whatsoever. If it was toxin, at least he would react even a little. But, he just hugged her and collapse, as if he was sleeping.

 _Could it be… a magic?_

Her squinting eyes noticed a human silhouette behind Gray, near the entrance tunnel. A woman in a skirt with braided hair. A silhouette she knew very well.

"Re... Reina-san?" her eyes widened in disbelief.

As the woman walked closer, Claire could see her more clearly. It was indeed Reina, with her usual expressionless face.

"Long time no see, Claire ..."

Her hands holding Gray's body was shaking. Her heart was sinking down. Various negative possibilities gathered in her mind.

"Why... are you... here? Did you say... you..." along with the words coming out of her mouth, Claire mind automatically began to link event by events that had happened to her. When she was separated from Reina, when she was kidnapped, or when Dirk told her that they couldn't trace her whereabouts. At first, she thought that it was strange for someone as calibre as Rena couldn't find her right away.

 _Unless..._

"You're the one who covered my whereabouts all this time?" Claire asked.

Reina's expression became even colder as she stood in front of Claire. She then pulled the girl's left arm and took a red beads bracelet off of her wrist.

"Remember this? Bracelet I gave you at the festival. I cursed a spell on it so that no one would be able to trace you with magic. It's an advance black magic," said Reina. "In my plan, those robbers supposed to bring you to some faraway unknown place. That way I just need to buy time until the gates fully opened."

Her prickling, icy eyes looked at Gray's orange hair. She hated that colour. It was too bright. "So this is the guy who destroyed my plan? A mere human being without magic…"

Reina was putting her hand on Gray's head, but Claire immediately dismissed it. Spontaneously she drew out Gray's short sword. She put Gray's body down carefully while kept pointing her sword at Reina. She was useless when it comes to magic. But at least, she could do a bit of martial art.

"What did you do to him?" Claire asked.

"Just a little bit of sleeping magic. Though he's not the one I aimed for. Suddenly he covered you and my magic slipped..." she kindly explained.

Claire flinched slightly. Was that why he hugged her before? Was it because he was aware of Reina's presence?

"I won't kill you, Claire. I don't want you to dead yet," Reina then mumbled something while her hands pointing at rocks. She got rid of all the stones from the ritual's circle, including the skeletons around there. What she did was too cruel for Claire. How could she treat human's skeletons just like ordinary stones?

"Hmm... so this is the manuscript," Reina said as she saw the writing on a large rock near the circle. Without Dirk's memory inside Claire, it surely would be difficult to find this circle as it was completely buried down. "Your father was really something to be able to translate this ancient letters. But he's no more than useless bones now," again, the way she spoke made Claire's heart clenched.

"You traitor… Why? Do you work for Skye?" Claire asked. Reina looked at her juniors. She was shaking. She was weak. But she got those wild and sharp eyes that made Reina sick.

"Skye? I care not for that frail human being. I just want to put the world as it should be."

"Ha?"

"The strong one will survive. Those who are weak will be eliminated. By doing so, us, magic users, will possessed the highest rank."

"Why?" Claire gulped.

"I guess someone sheltered by kindness like you won't understand. This world is rotten. The power held by the weak and stupid people who pay no care except for themselves," she cursed. She continued to provoke Claire, "Haven't you think about it? By sending you and me to Zephyr alone… they gave us a fake mission, only to be failed. The Harvest Goddess, Oracle, Sheng... they want to end _human_ civilizations, and began the _wizard_ era!"

 _Reina even separated wizard from human. Why? Aren't wizards humans too?_

Claire hands were trembling. She tried to hold back her tears and strengthen her heart. She remembered the conversation she had with the Harvest Goddess back in the spring.

"That's not true. The Harvest Goddess... She won't do something like that..."

"Then why did she make you do this impossible mission?" Reina pissed and pressed her mind to the girl.

Claire was speechless. She didn't know how to talk her back. After all, it was just her belief.

 _Isn't it enough just to believe in the Goddess?_

In the midst of their silence, an arrow was shot to Reina's direction; forced her to retreat a few steps backwards.

Reina and Claire looked at where the arrow came from. Releasing the arrow was a silver-haired man –Skye.

"First time in my life... I found a Konohana traitor," Skye said as he put on the usual wide smile. Reina was on her guards. Her sharp gaze stared at the beautiful man. She pointed her index finger on Skye and murmured a spell. A flash came out of her fingers and the flash quickly flied to attack him. Ordinary human would be wounded badly because of that attack. But no, Skye was not even budge. He just murmured something and so an invisible shield protected him –something that could only be done by magic users.

His smile widened as he noticing Reina's shocked face. "I think Sheng is able to calm because I'm here?" Skye answered Reina's question earlier with a guessing tone.

Claire could not believe what she had just seen. He could use magic!

"Who are you?" asked Reina after she managed to get her composure back.

"Skye, The Head of XIV Division of Natsume Alliance, Sheng's special disciple. Konohanas' spy for the world," He answered short, clear, and concisely.

Skye jumped over to Claire and said with a gentle smile on his face, "I'll take care of this traitor. You just continue your job."

After that he looked back at Reina. "Let me straighten your wrong way of thinking. Let's settle this outside?" Skye offered.

"No," Reina rejected. "From now on, we will occupy this place," said Reina.

" _We_? Ah... haha," Skye's bow slung his arm when he realized many other human silhouettes were popping up. Reina was not alone; though Skye was sure he didn't 'feel' any human presence earlier. It looked like they just entered this place after him. Such a perfect spells to disguise their existence, which could only be done by those with advance magic skill –like him.

Instead of having to face some of unknown wizards at once, Skye decided to withdraw. He immediately took Claire on her right arm and Gray on his left arm away. Reina didn't pursue them. As she said before, she just needed Claire to be away and let the gate fully open. After that, she was going to kill her –as any other _human_.

After running far enough with his light speed, Skye put them down near the large windmill. Claire seemed shocked by the way Skye carried them like a bale of rice, but she soon gained her composure.

"Thank you... Mr Skye," she said.

"You're welcome," Skye smiled. "But I'm sorry. I decided to run away," he lowering his eyebrows, seemed chagrined. Claire immediately shook her head.

"No, it's the right decision. I could barely even move my legs... when I saw other magicians there..." she said with weak tone. She then saw Gray lying beside her. "Can you release him from the spell?"

Skye was stupefied, observing how fast this girl in accepting the surprising fact that had just happened.

"Surely dear," he smiled gently.

~ 000 ~

Gray opened his eyes. Like a _deja vu_ , he saw the sights he had seen before. That blonde hair... blue iris... Claire. But there was something different. Next to Claire there was the silver hair...

"Mr Skye?" Gray asked as he tried to get up. Claire immediately helped him by lifting his back.

"Yup. Oh, please leave the 'mister' away. I'm not your boss or client anymore," said Skye.

Gray observed the situation around him, and then looked at Claire's tired face. "Claire ..."

His words were cut when she suddenly embraced him. Gray tried to release himself from her, as he felt uncomfortable since Skye was watching them. But she didn't let him go.

"Please don't do something like that again..." she pleaded.

"Huh?" Gray didn't understand what she meant by 'that'.

"Endangered your life to protect me... don't ever do it again, Gray..." Claire sobbed. Gray sighed and his face reddened. Skye watched both of them with warm eyes, which were –according to Gray, very disturbing.

Never once a girl hugged him like this. If it was not in this crucial time, if only they met in a more ordinary way, things might be different. She wouldn't cry over him like this. He might just take her to his hometown and having her smile every day without worrying about the world destruction.

He smiled over his random thought. _Nah, it won't happen._

"You saved her before?" Skye asked.

Gray gulped. He did not want to answer, because it made him embarrassed. Skye read the shy guy's mind and his smile widened.

"Aah... It's nice to be young," he muttered to himself. He then stepped aside to call his personal hawk messenger. The message he sent to Sheng this time would surely made that panda old man grouchy.

 _Radical wizard, huh... Seriously?_

~ 000 ~

-Konohana-

Sheng burst into the Town Hall to meet Ina, Mayor of Konohana, who was sitting in her office.

"Ina, I just got news from Skye!" Sheng exclaimed breathlessly; a rare sight of Sheng who always looked calm and firm.

Ina immediately got up and went to Sheng. "What happened? Sit down first."

Sheng did not bother to sit down; it would be a waste of time. "Our main enemy is not the Natsume Alliance," said Sheng, repeating the express letter from Skye. "Our enemies are radical wizards... and their leader is Reina."

The Major's eyes were widened in disbelief. No matter what, Reina was her best disciple and she already regarded her as her own daughter.

Sheng didn't give her a lot of time to think. He pushed Ina further, "Ina... tell me. Are you involved?"

The Old Man's suspicion got a strong reaction from her. "Have you lost your mind? As mayor, I've swore to the Harvest Goddess to give priority to the world's harmony. Have you forgotten that I was right beside you, eradicated radical wizards thirty years ago?"

Sheng cleared his throat, asked Ina to lower her voice. She apologized for her excessive reaction.

"I know. I trust you. For now, muster Konohanas force around Zephyr to help Claire and Skye as soon as possible. Every second counts, Ina," Sheng commanded.

Ina relieved to hear Sheng's trust in her and moved to fulfil the elder's command immediately. Even so, in her mind, there were many questions appeared, especially about Reina.

She never thought that Reina would join the radical groups. The group aimed to put magic as the world's biggest power and got rid the non-magic users. The group had long been eliminated by the elders. Did the Harvest Goddess know about this? If she knew, why did she ask the strongest girl in the village –which was none other than Reina, to accompany Claire?

"I don't understand... Harvest Goddess. Which side are you on?" Ina muttered.

The same question occurred to Oracle. The old pink maiden met the Harvest Goddess in her spring shortly after Razhi had Sheng's message conveyed to her.

"I'm not siding with anyone," said Harvest Goddess when Oracle asked her. "You feel it too, right? There's a great force that control this world. Not my strength, not even the Blue Dragon's. And we can only move in these destinies flows, but..." she halted to put a flower on her hair.

"We'll never know which one is destiny before it happened. That's why, though the essential fate had been written long before the world existed, living beings keep trying and do their best. Some fate can be change… but some can't. I think it's interesting to see human struggle to realize the destiny they're hoping for, haha."

"Harvest Goddess ..." Oracle frowned. She had just heard the Harvest Goddess said something so important casually.

"Relax, Oracle. You know this?" the Harvest Goddess pointed the pearls around her neck.

"Pearl?"

"This beautiful object is formed from the wounds of the shellfish that live in ocean floor. Only after it was being hurt, it can produce this beautiful mineral. I wish... I could find a lot of pearls at the end of this story," said Harvest Goddess with a smile on her lips.

Oracle stared at the Harvest Goddess' green, clear crystal eyes.

And finally she understood what the Goddess meant.

Whether the pearls would be formed or not, all depended on the players.

~ 000 ~

-Zephyr-

Skye, Claire and Gray sat in a circle in one of the empty building. They had been exchanging information and seeking for the best solution to complete their mission. They should perform the ritual at the same location as 17 years ago. But the place was now filled with more than ten radical wizards. It was unfortunate since Skye was the only one who could use magic among them. Perhaps as Skye had said, they could only wait for reinforcement from Konohana.

"What about the Natsume Alliance?" Gray asked. He hoped they could take advantage of Skye's subordinate. But Skye shook his head.

"We can't trust the Alliance. Van also wants to get the power for himself, that's why he sent me here. Afterall, no wizard is willing to help him, no matter how much money he offered," said Skye.

"Why?" Gray was surprised to see the confidence in Skye's words.

This time Claire answered, "Because wizards submitted to the law of harmonies. Wizards have a code of ethics and have vowed to the Harvest Goddess. Those who violate them are threatened with unimaginable karma..."

"Karma?"

"Yes. Don't ever think about death penalty, coz it's even worse than that."

Gray nodded, thought that he supposed not to digging too much into this. After Skye and Claire told him many things about Konohana, he thought he could understand why there were wizards who took a radical path. When someone had a power, the tendency to overpower those bellowing them appeared. Working behind the scenes as Konohana did all this time surely required a great wisdom and humilities.

"I'll return to my squad for now. I'll command them to go to another ruin at the west, far away from this place. You guys get some rest," said Skye.

After the silver haired went, Gray turned his gaze to the girl beside him. The shadow had back to her face. That blue eyes of her which looked at him seemed somewhat empty.

"Gray... if I decide not to care... we might stay alive and the world might be ruled by wizards. And you're strong enough to survive even without magic. Wouldn't it benefiting us?"

Hearing her words, Gray stared back at her eyes. His gentle gaze made the warm water dripping from the girl's eyes. "You're my client. Whatever your decision, I'll follow you. Just don't do something you might regret later."

~ 000 ~

Red dawn had risen in the eastern city of Zephyr, illuminating the old uninhabited buildings. Dirk finally arrived at Zephyr's old watching tower after riding for a whole day without a break. There had been waiting other Konohana's wizard. They couldn't enter the city because the radical wizards had placed magical shield around it. If any of them crossed the shield, they'd be found out and it'd be too reckless since they didn't know the number of enemies. Sheng had expected this to occur, that was why he ordered them only to attack when, at least, ten people had gathered.

"Don't we need to save Claire as quick as possible, Brother Dirk?" asked a young male wizard.

"No need to rush. Currently they can only waiting until the two dimensions fully united. They won't take any action," said Dirk.

The young wizard's eyebrows furrowed. "What makes you so sure?"

Dirk smile, "because I'm the only one who can read the ancient manuscript."

It was true. Dirk was the only witness to the incident seventeen years ago who was still alive. Claire was a baby at the time and Dirk only taught her how to perform the ritual to return her blood, nothing more.

"What manuscript do you mean?" asked another wizard. Dirk chuckled. He completely forgot that not many people in Konohana who knew about his and Claire's past. They only know that they were sent here to confront the radical wizards.

"I'll let you know the details when ten people have gathered here," said Dirk.

~ 000 ~

Fifteen people had gathered in the afternoon. Because of this fight would mostly involve magic, attacking in huddle would only drain their power. Dirk as the oldest among them, gave command to attack straight from five points; this way they could split the enemies power. At each point, two persons were in charge of attack, and the other one protected his partners. They would continue advance towards the large windmill and the ruins to the north, where the manuscript was. A quick attack was needed so the enemy wouldn't have time to set their strategy.

Before starting the action, he sent a dove to Skye.

"They'll attack tonight. We have to prepare ourselves. We'll follow them when we heard an explosion –that's the signal," Skye conveyed the message. Gray raised his hands, asking for permission to ask.

"I've been curious. How do the birds know where we are, even though they never come to this place before?" Gray asked.

"The wizards' bird messengers are not ordinary bird. It flew in quite speed and could instantly track the addressed person," Skye explained. Gray once again amazed by the power of magic. It was like that when the first time he saw Dirk's big hammer. He wished Cliff and his father could see this miracle.

Suddenly Skye smiled as he saw Gray and Claire.

"Wh-what?" Claire asked. She blushed slightly.

"No. I'm just amazed. When peoples are trying to take advantage of this situation, you're willing to sacrifice your lives in order to restore everything to normal," said Skye. He had heard the story of Gray's origin and his meeting with Claire. And he knew that Gray would also disappear, along with everything associated with Rune Factory.

A sizable roar sounded from the sky for the nth time. Yes, since the past few days, the Harvest Moon sky had been shrouded in dark clouds that occasionally let out rumbling sounds. It was not an overcast winter sky Claire used to see. Although Claire used to get excited when looking at the sky... the sky above her had her frightened.

If she didn't make it in time, the gate between two worlds might really fully open. And there would be countless casualties of civilians.

If her life were able to avoid all of that... she was willing to sacrifice it.

But...

 _Harvest Goddess ... please. At least, let one of my wishes fulfilled._

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(To be continued...)


	12. Luminescence

**DISCLAIMER:** ALL HARVEST MOON products belong to Natsume, Inc.

 **CHARACTERS:** Some Harvest Moon (even RF series) mixed together!

 **Warning:** Alternative Universe.

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 **~ 12 ~**

 **"Luminescence"**

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-Zephyr-

One gloomy evening at the beginning of winter. As quiet as always, the Zephyr town was slowly being gulped by the night. Before the sunlight completely vanished, sound of explosions suddenly broke the silent –and so the magic shield which covered the city. Five explosions could be heard at once from five points around the south area of Zephyr borderline. Gray, Claire, and Skye, who had been waiting that signal, were told to carry out their pending mission.

Dirk and his friends infiltrated the city in a relatively quick time, leaving their pursuers –the radical wizards, behind them. They kept running, advanced to the north. Claire and friends were waiting for their companies on the street closest to the ruin. Dirk's group was the first group they bumped into. The golden eyes man instantly recognized his beloved niece from a distance. But unlike Claire who smiled and waved cheerfully, Dirk's face seemed furious.

"YOU! Pervert Hunter! Put my niece down!" Dirk shouted with all his might. Gray sighed at his hilarious expression. If possible, he would like to avoid this situation. But this was the only way so that they could arrive at the ruins as soon as possible. Yup. Gray –who had an amazing speed at running, gave Claire a piggy back. Behind them there was Sky, protecting them from every magic; a perfect formation –although not for Dirk.

Gray didn't really care about the old man's nags. He immediately ran after Dirk without saying anything. His eyes was fetched on magic lightings which thrown here and there by radical wizards. If only Skye's shield didn't protect them, he was sure that he would have died by now. They didn't intent to slow their movement even though the enemies' number chasing them increased as the get closer to the ruins.

"It's okay! Just keep running forward! If you stopped here, it's their win!" Dirk ensured his companies. He had explained before: a magic duel in this kind of situation would only make you win your pride, not the real war. Though they looked like losers who just ran and avoided the enemies' attacks, it was a wise way to save their _manna_.

Once they arrived at the ruins, they were greeted by balls of light which forced them to step back. Actually, the radical wizards were in a disadvantage. Their personals could only block the ruins' entrance and defended the place. However, Dirk and others couldn't attack recklessly because it might destroy the ruins.

The night had late, but the radical wizards hadn't show any sign of surrender –while the sky above them had become darker and darker. It was not an ordinary darkness. Dark clouds gathered, centered in a circle around the ruins. Rambling sounds could be heard and the sounds had becoming even more disturbing. Anyone who looked at that sky and listening to that sounds would think that this was the end of world. Flashes of magic light arising from the both sides had slowly reduced. Certainly, both sides had drained so much energy.

A junior who had been attacking continuously suddenly stopped his attack and sat down beside Dirk, rested his back to the tree.

"Sorry. My _manna_ has come to zero," he said.

Dirk patted his shoulder, "it's okay. Just rest. Hope some reinforcement coming soon."

The junior nodded, closed his eyes and prayed inside his heart.

So, it was a bet of time.

If they could infiltrate the ruin and performed the ritual before the gate fully open, it would be their win. Yet if the radical wizard managed to defend the ruins until that uncertain time, it'd be their forever lost.

.

Skye leaped to Dirk's side and gave him a small black grenade. Dirk frowned. He never used a grenade before –mostly because he could just blow things by using his index finger. _So what's the point of having a grenade now—_

"A smoke bomb. Claire, the guy, and I will enter while you distract their attention. I bet you wizards have never used a smoke bomb before?"

Dirk looked at him flatly. "Just tell me how to use it."

.

A big blow surprised all the soul who was involved in the battle. Within seconds, the place had been enveloped in the thick smoke. Skye used this opportunity to infiltrate the ruins together with Gray –and Claire on his back. Before they went in, Skye put a seal magic on the entrance so that no one would be able to pass. They went straight to the ritual place but as they'd thought, Reina was there, facing them with courage.

She was alone. So it meant Dirk had done a good job to make their group splinted in panic.

Skye threw his bow to the floor, a sign that he was ready to face Reina in magical battle. He began to attack her, yet she ignored it and attacked Claire instead. But with Gray's super reflex, he could avoid her magic easily.

"Maybe it's better if I just kill you now, Claire," she said. Claire shuddered over her bad intention. Knowing this, Skye stood in front of her, as if willing to be a shield.

"I'll hold her. Gray, you assist Claire," Skye whispered. Gray nodded, and then ran to the ritual place.

But of course Reina didn't let him. She was about to strike back, but Skye attacked her arm first. Reina looked at Skye with some resentment.

"Don't get in my way!" she exclaimed.

Skye shook his head, smiling. "You have violated the oath of wizards. Even if you do survive here, soon reinforcement would come from Konohana, and you won't be able to escape your punishment," said Skye.

While Skye was trying to hold Reina, Gray was running and dropped Claire near the ritual circle.

"Can I help you?" Gray asked.

Claire bit her lip. "Uhm... may borrow the knife I gave you before? And protect me so no one would get in my ritual."

This time Gray was confident about protecting her. Skye had his sword coated in magic. He took out a small knife from his pocket and handed it to Claire. "Just take it. After all, I won't need it anymore..."

Claire gave him a gentle smile because she knew what he meant just then. She turned and walked to the middle of the circle, facing a large stone inscribed with ancient writing.

She closed her eyes for a moment to compose her self –forgetting about the noise arising from a battle of two magicians in the ruins. Concentrating, she completely ensured her safety to Gray.

She then slashed her palm with the short knife while mumbling a long spell in the ancient language. When she does that, from afar Reina fired some magic in the direction of Claire. But Claire stood still on her feet. She let Gray did his job protected her by reflecting that magic light with his sword.

As her red blood spilled onto the circle, a very bright light illuminated from the circle.

The light was so bright that it stopped the movement of Reina and other wizards who were outside the ruins. Soon after that, the earth around them started to tremble. And that was when he appeared: a huge dragon with a long snout and sharp teeth, which illuminated turquoise light from its scales.

Ambushed by the feeling of infuriated, for nth times Reina tried to attack Claire with some magic lights at once. But again, she failed because of Gray's amazing skill to move his sword to deflect her magic.

"Just give it up. It's over," said Skye. Reina gritted her teeth. She had drained her _manna_ and in her powerless state, she could only watch Claire who faced the Blue Dragon. She knew that her dreams would be scattered in seconds...

"The Blue Dragon... I'm giving back the blood you've lent to me. By this, please sever all connections between Rune Factory and Harvest Moon..." asked Claire.

The dragon looked around his shattered surroundings, before answered shortly, "Very well."

He pressed his muzzle to the girl's forehead, making a flow of turquoise light streaming from her forehead to her whole body. The light that enveloped her felt so warm. So comfortable that it made her sleepy.

"You, the one who come from the Sharance tree... shall go back to the Sharance tree..." whispered the Blue Dragon. As her body broke down into light, she looked at Gray with a smile. The boy smiled back at her.

His hands were luminous, slowly disappeared.

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-Konohana-

Razhi stopped moving his blade when the monster in front of him suddenly glowed. Without he need to beat up the monster, it broke down into turquoise lights which then floated into the sky. When his gaze reached up to the sky, he saw other lights drifting along with that monster's lights. The sky filled with thousands balls of turquoise light –just like floating snow powders.

Quietly, tears dripping down from the corner of his eye. The departure of the lights meant that the monster was going from this world... as well as his precious childhood friend.

 _Claire…_

The same scenery could be seen from the entire Harvest Moon's world. The dark sky which enveloped the world with ominous terrors for days had changed into luminous mystical sky... something that didn't make sense for most people, but it meant a big change for the wizards.

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 _Hey, Harvest Goddess... I have a request._

 _Had I and Gray really have to disappear from this world..._

 _I hope you can bring us together again._

 _And convey my thanks to the Blue Dragon._

 _Because it's thanks to him that I could meet Gray, Uncle Dirk, Razhi, and everyone..._

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-Sharance Tree, Rune Factory-

A quiet morning in the Sharance Tree had broken by the sound of a crying baby. Micah, who had been pacing back and forth on the porch of the tree, rashly came in when his name called. He saw his wife, Raven, smiling at him. Beside her there was Majorie who help her delivered. She was holding a tiny baby with blue eyes –as blue as his.

"A girl," said Majore without being asked.

Micah eyes were shining with excitement. He stretched out his hand and gently held the baby.

"Woah, Woah! So cute... thank you, Raven," Micah said, kissing his wife on her forehead. "So, how am I going to call you, eh, sweetie?" Micah asked to himself. He did not stop smiling since earlier, even though the baby still hadn't stopped crying.

"Claire..." said Raven.

"Claire? Where did the name come from?" Micah asked. Given the nature of Raven, he believed there was a special meaning behind that name.

Raven smiled, "I don't know. It just comes to my mind."

Her answer made Micah and Majorie silent for a while, but soon it broke by Majorie's laughter.

"Hahaha! You're no different than Shara! Just like you, when I asked her about his son's name, she said 'it just comes to my mind'!" she exclaimed.

Micah chuckled, remembering Shara's son who often messed around in his garden. "Aah... Gray? How old is he now? Hm..."

"Foul yea' old!" exclaimed a little boy with warm orange hair and blue eyes. He just walked in without knocking first. Behind him there was Shara, his mother, struggling for breath. Apparently she chased up Gray climbed up the Sharance Tree's stairs.

"Gray! I told you not to run! What if you fall?!" Shara scolded his son.

"Hahaha, just let him be, Shara. A kid should be as active as Gray," said Majorica while she was packing her equipment back. Gray seemed to disregard his nagging mother. Tiptoeing, he tried to see Claire in her father's arms. Realizing this, Micah crouched down so that Gray could see the baby's face closer.

"Claire, this is Brother Gray; and Gray, this is Claire," he said while touching Claire's hand with his index finger –moving it a little. The baby had stopped crying, and with him doing that, it seemed as if she was waving her hand to Gray.

"She's so small..." Gray said. Micah smiled at Gray's rounded curious eyes, and it nudged his playful nature. Micah grabbed Gray's hand and put his index finger in Claire's opened palm. Slowly, her small hand moved and enveloped Gray's little finger.

"Ooh!" Gray looked so happy that his eyes were shining even brighter. His red and chubby cheeks are so cute that it made Micah couldn't hold his chuckles.

"Haha! Gray, befriend with Claire, okay?" Micah asked. Gray nodded enthusiastically, though his eyes kept looking at Claire's sleeping face. This was the first time Gray saw a kid who was so much smaller than him. For our little Gray, there were still lots and lots of new things waiting ahead him –his other 'firsts'.

Under the Sharance tree which flower had bloomed... once again, the story of Gray and Claire began.

...

-END-

-COMPLETED-

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A / N:

Thank you for read my fanfic! Especially those who leaved reviews :)

I'd love to hear what you think about this fanfic, whether you like it or not…

I hope you enjoy the whole stories. My thanks for Mnemah-san who had helped me a lot and it's because of her my English skill has become a lot better! :) (Well, back then my English was soo bad hehe)

Okay, that's it! See you! :D


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